Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Government and Me

I was listening to an interesting program on NPR this afternoon during lunch where the guest was tracing the links between the Tea Party of today with the John Birch Society of the 50's and 60's. As I have supported some of the ideas of the Tea Party and applaud their exercise of their constitutional rights, I thought it might be good to put some thoughts down regarding my own feelings regarding our loveable federal government. I think that there are those in my family that see me as a Tea Party supporter in the worst case and as anti-Obama in the best case. So, for all of you, here are my thoughts on our government (in summary form with extended explanations where needed).


There is clearly an important role for federal government; anarchy is not an option. The federal government should do the following:



  • Uphold the Constitution of the United States

  • Defend the country from attack (but not by stripping its citizens of their rights)

  • Protect the borders

  • Guide and regulate monetary policy, especially on a global scale

  • Protect the rights of all citizens (by definition, this includes all minorities)

  • Guide commerce and protect citizens from fraudulent and toxic buisness practices

  • Legislate without the influence of business, special interests, other governments

  • Adjudicate according to the Constitution and well-established precidents of English and American law

  • Carry out foriegn policy with the best interests of the citizens in mind (not the petty concerns of individual politicians following misguided policies)

  • Pursue massive projects that support new knowledge (to be shared with the citizens) and technologies that cannot be pursued by profit-driven entities

  • Provide a safety net for the poor and infirm and provide meaningful training to render all capable persons of gaining employment in the private sector

There may be more, but this is a good start. Now for what the government should not do:



  • Redistribute wealth

  • Become the largest employer in the country

  • Withhold the funding of schools that comply with all equal opportunity requirements but do not follow the whims of various government programs that control the environment and content of education

  • Dictate health care

  • Intrude on the daily lives of citizens with arbitrary legislation that appeals to the latest pseudo-science or mass-driven opinions

  • Allow legislators to abdicate the responsibility for writing legislation to hired hands

  • Pile up massive debt (I think some debt is ok ... it works well for me, but there has to be a limit)
So, this should be enough to get some tongues wagging in the family. It is not a complete list, but a good working one.