Many people, especially our elected leaders in government, have forgotten about what is possibly the most important principle upon which our great nation was founded: the right of the individual to live his life and manage his affairs without the presence of an overbearing government manging them for him.
I realize that government is perfectly necessary to protect the innocent, provide justice, guard the nation against international communism and terrorists and whatnot. This is spiffy keen with me. But there is a great deal that is not spiffy keen with me, with which I have some serious problems.
What is wrong is when the government can and does tell someone that he cannot fill in a pond on his land because it is a part of a federalÐdesignated "wetland" (whatever that is). I consider it a problem when federal agents and police have relied on tipsters to a point in which they simply have shot first, and then asked questions later, usually after the media have publicized the case. I consider it a problem when police plant evidence to solve cases (this practice has recently been exposed in a couple of major cities). I consider it a major problem when federal judges overstep their task of interpreting the law. To go on and repeat more occurances like this is unnecessary, for many such instances are widely known. But the problem is quite apparent. The government is getting involved, when in a perfect world it would not get involved, and it is becoming corrupt and hostile as well.
What I don't understand is why people don't make more of a noise about this. Historians will study this time period and laugh at the people who did not realize that they were in chains. What we have become is a nation ruled by bureaucracy. The names change at the top and factions move in and out, but regardless of the cosmetics, the essential truth is that the American people are being governed by its bureaucracy instead of the bureaucrats serving the public interest. What has resulted from this? It has led to the mass implementation of stifling regulation; a society that fears instead of respects the government; people becoming less hopeful; and it has led to an inefficent government that is unwilling and perhaps unable to change.
It does not take a professor to figure this out. One can glean this information from mere observation. Ask yourself now: Do you really trust the government? Do your friends? (Why not?) Do you feel your taxes are going to a good purpose? Have your experiences with civil servants been good or bad? Just how sleazy is Bill Clinton? (Could Hillary teach me to make $100,000 trading commodities in a short time? I'd love to know and so would many other people I know.) Do you like the fact that government - other people who do not even know you - can and do tell you what to do with many parts of your life?
I believe there is a time in which community rights take precedence over those of the individual, when one submits people to grave danger perhaps. But to say to a person who owns land that he cannot fill in his pond or fill in his swamp or cut a tree because it might hurt the "environment" is reprehensible. To say to business that they have to pay their employees so much an hour is not for the government to dictate. Possibly most outrageous is the concept of eminent domain, in which the government will simply take the property from its owner, "compensating" him later, claiming that society needs it for a civil engineering project. The list goes on, crossing every aspect of life, from the ways schools are run to the way the roads are built. What is worse is that the government insists that things be done its way, or no way at all. A very good example of this is the executive order signed by Clinton that prohibited the federal government from dealing with companies that permanently replace striking workers even though such replacements are now perfectly legal. This typical act of executive stupidity by our Fearless Leader is mirrored in the everyday actions of various intrusive governmental agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Department of Education. As we have seen all too clearly, the actions of these agencies - and others - are executed with a zeal, and that in the attempt to Protect Society From Itself, dire results and occasional loss of life may follow. If these agencies were to have their activities curtailed or even abolished, then maybe things would run better, things would cost less, our schools would improve, and ninety more people will not die when the ATF decides to storm another compound.
In some sense, the way in which the government runs is very similar to the way the University deals with the dreaded (new and improved?) CodeTM. Right now, we have a Code that almost everyone believes is too overreaching. We want the University to stay out of our lives, and we think it should not care about what we do with our time as long as we pay our tuition on time. If we want to spend our weekends in a drunken stupor, it's none of the University's damn business, now is it? Now imagine a Really Big Code that covers the entire nation for trivial things, such as how you take care of your land or when you drink a beer. It tells you what you can do and cannot do and imposes micromanagement onto your life. If you do not follow it, you will Go Away or pay Lots of Money. And the government only says they will change it when the students, I mean, voters get really mad and make trouble for them. But it never really has changed for a long time. If it had really changed, these and other bad programs and outrageous laws, such as the ease one can sue another, would no longer exist
Now, wouldn't it be nice if we could get a nice, happy middle ground here? Say, like those nice services government provides and without the government micromanaging our lives. I think that if you take a survey people will be happy - well, at least less unhappy - to pay their taxes to a beneficial government that governs for and by the people, and not one that governs the people, and one that provides services efficiently instead of having it be a major timewaster of a chore to get registered to vote. I think that if we got government out of our lives where it was not needed, and have them kindly explain why they need to do all the things they do, people would begin to trust the government more instead of fear it. I think that would be a nice change.
I do not mean to preach that the government is the root of all evil, and I don't want to see our government abolished. What I do want to see is the government act responsibly and work for us, and not get involved in things where it should not get involved. It is not right for one person to be able to determine the course of action or the conduct of another person as long as that second person's conduct does not interfere with the rights of other people. Why are we letting the government do this to us? We need to realize that everyone has the right to their own choice of religion, that everyone has the right to their own choice of lifestyle, the right to live our lives the way we want to, without the government saying "NO!". We have a Bill of Rights for a reason. We need to exercise those rights. Let's get the system working for us - instead of against us - again.