Proper Role of Government

IN GENERAL,

Anything that gives the government more power is bad;

unless that power is essential for the protection of life, liberty, and property.

It is a common error to assume that government should "promote"

everything that the people see as good,

and prevent everything that the people see as bad.

Free people must find other ways to solve all but a FEW of their problems.

 

All government should be limited to the functions of protecting life, liberty  and property.

This protection is needed from criminals, from foreign invaders, and ESPECIALLY from government itself.

That includes world government.

That includes the United Nations.

--------------------------

The individual rights for every human being,

and government coercion, are opposites.

Yet, at the same time, we recognize the fact that the weaker need to be protected from the stronger.

PROTECTION is the only reason that we allow government to exist,

and is the only legitimate function of government.

When government is not limited to its only legitimate functions,

then the people need to be protected FROM their protectors. 

 

All that needs to be done, to protect individual rights,

is to limit government to protecting life, liberty, and property.

The limitation of government, historically,  has been a difficult task;

in that criminals will seek to control government,

and to USE it as an INSTRUMENT OF PLUNDER.

 

We must learn the lessons from history.

Our Constitutional republic was constructed with much

knowledge of these lessons.

 

The only "fair tax" is one that is paid voluntarily,
in exchange for the goods and services,
that are supposedly provided.
Some goods of services can be paid for individually,
and others are lumped together in a package.
"Citizenship" entails the acceptance of a package of goods and services.
Whatever is taxed, is discouraged by government.
Income should never be taxed.
This is discouragement from working (productivity).
In general, it would make more sense to tax the consumption of value  (sales
tax),
than to tax the production of value (income tax).
This does not mean that the more sensible tax is "fair".
ALSO there should be NO MONEY SPENT by government unless it is for a
legitimate,
constitutional function of government.
There should be NO MONEY SPENT by government unless it is for constitutional
function,  performed by the correct branch of government, and at the
appropriate level.
Most of our governing should be local and state.

 

The limitation of government is accomplished by several means:

 

First, there is the OVERALL restriction that is placed on ALL parts of government.

The Bill of Rights, and many other parts of our constitution,

define many things that NO PART of government should ever do.

The Tenth Amendment says that the federal government should not do ANYTHING EXCEPT what the constitution says that it can do.

 

Next, the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are divided into

DIFFERENT Branches or government.

 

Next, the federal, state, and LOCAL governments are given

DIFFERENT PORTIONS of these powers.

 

Each level of government, and each BRANCH of government is given the duty of checking

the other levels of government, and the other BRANCHES of government.

 

The Constitution of the United States of America and the The Declaration of Independence 

 

 

  

 

 

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The best protection of the rights of the people comes,

when every power of government is held by that agency;

which  is CLOSEST TO THE PEOPLE;

providing that the function CAN BE performed at that level.

 

Our constitution gave police power to the LOCAL government;

NOT TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

National police forces are the convention in dictatorships.

 

In order to define The Proper Role Of Government it must be understood from

the outset that government is an agency of FORCE. A law is a statement of a

responsibility which is REQUIRED by government through the use, or threat of the use, of FORCE.

Everything that government does involves the use of force. Government uses

force to compel the compliance with each of it laws, by providing PENALTIES for violation of laws. Laws may REQUIRE a specific action from the citizen or they may PROHIBIT a specific action of a citizen.

At the very least, in ALL cases the actions of government are funded by tax revenues that are taken from citizens through the use,

or threat of the use, of FORCE.

This means that a moral government may only do those things, for which the use of FORCE, would be morally justifiable. Therefore; the central question in defining The Proper Role Of Government is: "When is the use of FORCE morally justifiable?"

The answer is the same, when government is considered, as it would be for any individual.

We, as individuals, have a moral right to use force in our own SELF DEFENSE.

We also have a right to use force in defense of someone else, who has authorized us to act in their behalf.

Government is the agency; which we have collectively authorized to act on

behalf of the entire population.

Our founding fathers wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, that governments are instituted among men to protect our rights, and that they derive their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed. The governed have no authority to give CONSENT to the government for any action, that they; as INDIVIDUALS have no right. We have no authority to authorize government to use FORCE, when it is not justified by the need for defense.

Each time that government acts, we should be able to ask "What is the moral

justification for this use of force?" This question can be broken down into several smaller

questions:

Who is the government protecting?

(If the answer is "no one" this function of government is not morally justifiable, and should be abolished)

Has the citizen, that is allegedly being protected,

authorized the government to act on his behalf?

(If the answer is "no" this function of government

is not morally justifiable, and should be abolished. There

is sometimes an "implied consent", where the citizen

is not capable of expressing consent. Ex. a unconscious person,

a minor, a mentally infirmed person)

Has the citizen, that is allegedly being protected,

attempted to specifically REFUSE to assistance of government?

(If the answer is "yes" this function of government

is not morally justifiable, and should be abolished)

Who is the government protecting this citizen FROM?

(Government uses force against PEOPLE. The use of force against

one person cannot be justified by the wrongful behavior of a DIFFERENT

person. It also cannot be justified because of bad luck, acts of God, or the

elements of nature.)

Is the government using force against anyone else,

other than the aggressor?

(The moral justification for the use of force only exists,

when the force is being used; against ONLY the aggressor.)

God does not run governments. People who commit crimes, wages wars, preach hatred, and create tyrannies in the name of God, generally are not doing this because they honestly believe that God desires it.

The very ESSENCE of belief in God is the understanding that He is ALL POWERFUL, and that He can do ANYTHING He wants to do. When he wants to intervene in the affairs of men He does not need to hire help. If we understand that God does not need "help", then we would not be fooled by people who seek to be our gods, by claiming that they are His "assistants".

One very large problem, in the perversion of the law, comes from "well meaning"

people.

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when
the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally
alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without
understanding."
Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) - American judge

Very often religious people are unable to distinguish between the unlimited power of God and the strictly limited power of government.

Everything God says is right and anything that He wants to do about it is proper.

He has all of the power that He needs to enforce His laws as He sees fit. He does not need our help.  God teaches us about what is right and what is wrong, and gave us a free will to choose between good and evil.  He DOES NOT teach us to use force to stop people from sinning. He teaches us that THE USE OF FORCE against peaceable persons is a sin. It is also clear that we are all responsible for everything that we direct our agents to do.

Religions promote ideals;
which are accepted or rejected, voluntarily.
That is "choice".
Governments make laws;
which are ENFORCED by the power of police and courts.
We should be careful when we convert religious ideals into laws.

Government is our agent. We definitely have no moral right to use force, to require others to observe the teachings of our religion.

The government that seeks to enforce God's laws, is a government that seeks to be our god.

Government must be limited to protecting us from aggressors. There is no human agency; which, can morally use force to require or prohibit ANYTHING, unless one citizen would have a moral right to use force in the same situation. One does not bring about morality by use of an immoral act. If there is not a citizen whose life, liberty or property are being put at risk, then it is none of the governments business.

The ends DO NOT justify the means. As soon as you begin to plead the benefits of allowing government to cross this line, there is no where else to close the gate. You take one step onto the slippery slope, and you slide all the way to the chasm.

Government has no moral basis to tell us ANYTHING at all about how we should, run our schools, and should have nothing to do with running them.

OR ANYTHING ELSE- EXCEPT WHERE OUR ACTIONS VIOLATE ANOTHER PERSONS RIGHTS.

Saying that the government has no business using force, does not mean that individuals or groups should not use persuasion to oppose things that are foolish and self destructive. We can all debate with one another, or refuse to associate with one another. We can donate money,

or we can refuse to patronize. We can express our approval or disapproval in thousands of peaceful and non-coercive ways.

Those who INITIATE the use of force are the criminals and the sinners.

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