“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
I’m looking for comments on this post because this issue has been bothering lately. I have felt almost guilty for thinking this as well.
Read that quote from the Declaration of Independence carefully. We have all read the Declaration in our high school civics classes, but rarely do we take the document upon ourselves personally. That worries me. We’ve had a functioning democracy now for over 200 years. That fact alone is amazing. We’ve had 44 peaceful transitions of power.
After all these years are we taking for granted that a government of the people, by the people, for the people is not a given? There are hundreds of countries with poor living conditions and ruthless dictators. One need only look to Africa to catch a glimpse of this.
Can we count on our democracy being as strong as it is today? Should we count on it?
Ours would not be the first great country to fall. Ours would not be the first great democracy to fall.
Much of my political beliefs stem from a view freedom based on personal autonomy. Others might view freedom based on how far a person can go. I believe that freedom is based on the breadth of actions you can take at any point. In general, the government is at odds with this sort of freedom. Of course, some laws and regulations are required to keep society safe and stable. This sort of personal autonomy is one that freely engages in a social contract with the government by participating in a democratic fashion.
I believe the United States does need health care reform. Part of the problem is the existing rules and regulations promulgated by the government. As with many regulations, they foster an environment of inefficiency.
Now imagine a world with universal health care provided by the government. How likely are we to be able to throw off such government? In my opinion, it seems highly unlikely. Doesn’t this seem almost Orwellian? I think we as a country need to reconsider how wantonly we throw around our personal autonomy. What is the best way to do this?…Not necessarily the easiest…the best.
Tough questions. There may not be a dollar value associated with my freedom, but it needs to enter into our cost benefit analysis.
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I know it’s very Republican of me to say this, but it’s good when I can make a decision on my own instead of the government making it for me. Isn’t it the nature of capitalism?
I’m proud to say our great country is built on the ideals of capitalism, maybe even more proud to claim this than to support our ideals of Democracy. I fear that every social program we enact, every step we take toward universal health care and every check we write off to welfare is a chip out of the foundation of capitalism that America is founded on. I hope someday we can shift the balance back toward the ideas of correction through the free market.
Back to the topic on hand, I have confidence that policy and government will find a good balance and remain stable for some time to come. We may not be the first great nation to fall, but we may be the first great nation to fall during the information age. Think about how fast government atrocities are publicized… Action is taken to correct poor decision making and the people are the grassroot driving force behind these corrections.
If those in charge aren’t making decisions in the interest of the people, they don’t tend to stay in office too long. Blagojevich is a beacon of hope in such negative press. Why? Although unfortunate that this level of corruption exists in our government, notice how fast it was corrected on this occasion. The governor screwed up, his political career will be finished. Back in the eighteenth century, it was probably slightly easier to get away with shady government deals, and the propagation of such corruption in government seems to be the recurring theme in many violent overthrows.