If They Can Do It For You…They Can Do It To You.

At the dawning of the Age of the Nanny State, where the citizens of the United States of America increasingly look to the federal government to solve all of their problems and redress all of their grievances,  we need to stop and ask,  at what cost.  What are you personally willing to give up to have the government provide the things you want?  Are you willing to let the government set the limit on the amount of money you can earn?  Is it okay if they tell you what you can say or write?  Do you think the government should have the right to tell you what you can eat or what you have to spend your money on?


“Why there oughtta be a law!” -  Too many people today are willing to turn to government force to compel others to do things they think is right.  It all seems good if “those people” are being forced to do something or give up something…”Those people”, after all,  deserve it.  What we must all remember, though, is that reigns of power always change.  It may seem okay to limit the compensation of those rich corporate types…but who decides what is rich?  And what if a new President or Congress decides that they really know what’s best for all job categories?  What if they tell you that you make too much for the job you have…after-all, similar workers in India don’t make near as much as you do.  Does this seem unlikely?  Why?  Once you give government the power  to do it to one group, what is to stop them from doing it to you?

I remember when I was a kid, back when the ACLU may still have had some credibility, there were discussions about how the ACLU could defend the Ku Klux Klan or American Nazis or some other such offensive group.  The answer was, in effect, that all people’s rights to free speech, regardless of how much you may disagree with them, have to be defended.  If government can abridge their rights they can also abridge yours.  This was a noble cause.  Now, however, the ACLU seems to be more involved in helping to abridge the rights of others than defending them…but that’s a whole other post.

The Founders were very wary of too much government power.  This is why they framed the Constitution with all of its checks and balances.  As Patrick Henry said, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”  Constitutional restraint seems to be a fading principle with our lawmakers today.  When Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was recently asked where the constitutional authorization to order Americans to purchase health insurance came from, her answer was simply “Are you serious? Are you serious?”  How dare anyone question the queen’s authority?

So, when you are tempted to cede more power to government, stop and think.  Though you may trust the President or Congress today, what happens after the next election…will you trust the next group.  And remember that if the government can do something for you, they can also do it to you.