What our founding fathers knew that we've forgotten
The United States of America is an experiment. In a sense, we're a laboratory that was created to study human nature. The lab was created just a very short time ago (relatively), by a handful of incredibly gifted men. No, they were not perfect. Yes, slavery existed when their vision of freedom was penned into existence. But in a world of feudalism, monarchy, and oppression, the notion of a sovereign individual had to begin somewhere. The very notion itself was radical enough that unfortunately some compromise had to be made. Though it got off to a rocky start, our system has proven itself to be the best in the world, and has even self-corrected with regard to the civil rights of blacks, Indians, Chinese, and non-Christians. We still have a ways to go before we extend this thinking to gays and atheists, but in a few hundred years who knows what will happen.
What was this radical philosophy? What was it that prompted Benjamin Franklin to respond, "A republic, if you can keep it" when asked what type of a system he had just helped to create? It was the simple notion that sovereignty begins with the individual and is licensend to the state, rather than vice-versa.
Thus the U.S. constitution was created. A document unique in human history, it didn't "grant" us anything; instead it RECOGNIZED our rights to exist as sovereign and free beings, and sought to set in concrete the limit to which government could infringe on that sovereignty.
In a perfect free world, the bill of rights would not be necessary. People would recognize that no person has a right to run any other person's life; nor should they be forced to support the poor judgments of another person at gunpoint.
It has been necessary, however, to codify these rights, because they are so foreign to human nature. Our very nature is to demand that others validate our views by agreeing to our traditions, at least implicitly, but sometimes even explicitly. When will this impulse subside? Probably about the same time that the sun ceases to rise. It is an integral part of our existence that just won't die.
Henry David Thoreau said it best when he said, "Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes inexpedient". In the machinery of life, government is a source of friction rather than lubrication. This is particularly true in the world of commerce. In a marketplace of pure competition, no government is necessary. Of course we all know that pure competition cannot exist because greed unchecked will destroy just as quickly as greed eradicated. However, our society has shifted from a capitalist system that leans toward pure competition to a system of mercantile, in which businesses (especially small businesses) survives in spite of government, not because of it. For some reason, however, the leftist cry of "more government" never seems to stop.
Government, as the principal friction of commerce and free ideas, causes problems. In the case of the proposed government sponsored soccer complex in Overland Park, KS it subsidizes millionaires and discourages entrepreneurs. And this is not an isolated incident. One of the richest men in the country is on welfare! Ted Turner, billionaire media superstar, actually receives government subsidies for his buffalo ranching operations. There are plenty more examples. Even Ronald McDonald has been on welfare.
All of this leads me to one of my favorite quotes, from Ronald Reagan, "The governments view of economics: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it". This accurately depicts the role of government as merely a parasite that rides on the backs of producers who work day in and day out to create economic opportunity and material success. Why do we as intelligent beings put up with a system of taxation that not even Albert Einstein could comprehend? Have we forgotten that we were founded on a tax rebellion? Why do we settle for an inefficient system that drains our economy like a black hole drains space? When will we decide that we deserve better?
What was this radical philosophy? What was it that prompted Benjamin Franklin to respond, "A republic, if you can keep it" when asked what type of a system he had just helped to create? It was the simple notion that sovereignty begins with the individual and is licensend to the state, rather than vice-versa.
Thus the U.S. constitution was created. A document unique in human history, it didn't "grant" us anything; instead it RECOGNIZED our rights to exist as sovereign and free beings, and sought to set in concrete the limit to which government could infringe on that sovereignty.
In a perfect free world, the bill of rights would not be necessary. People would recognize that no person has a right to run any other person's life; nor should they be forced to support the poor judgments of another person at gunpoint.
It has been necessary, however, to codify these rights, because they are so foreign to human nature. Our very nature is to demand that others validate our views by agreeing to our traditions, at least implicitly, but sometimes even explicitly. When will this impulse subside? Probably about the same time that the sun ceases to rise. It is an integral part of our existence that just won't die.
Henry David Thoreau said it best when he said, "Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes inexpedient". In the machinery of life, government is a source of friction rather than lubrication. This is particularly true in the world of commerce. In a marketplace of pure competition, no government is necessary. Of course we all know that pure competition cannot exist because greed unchecked will destroy just as quickly as greed eradicated. However, our society has shifted from a capitalist system that leans toward pure competition to a system of mercantile, in which businesses (especially small businesses) survives in spite of government, not because of it. For some reason, however, the leftist cry of "more government" never seems to stop.
Government, as the principal friction of commerce and free ideas, causes problems. In the case of the proposed government sponsored soccer complex in Overland Park, KS it subsidizes millionaires and discourages entrepreneurs. And this is not an isolated incident. One of the richest men in the country is on welfare! Ted Turner, billionaire media superstar, actually receives government subsidies for his buffalo ranching operations. There are plenty more examples. Even Ronald McDonald has been on welfare.
All of this leads me to one of my favorite quotes, from Ronald Reagan, "The governments view of economics: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it". This accurately depicts the role of government as merely a parasite that rides on the backs of producers who work day in and day out to create economic opportunity and material success. Why do we as intelligent beings put up with a system of taxation that not even Albert Einstein could comprehend? Have we forgotten that we were founded on a tax rebellion? Why do we settle for an inefficient system that drains our economy like a black hole drains space? When will we decide that we deserve better?
posted by Jason E. Peck at 8:34 PM
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