The Best Government
The American government acts as a necessary means of creating laws, enforcing legislation, and maintaining order throughout the nation. I will not deny the need for a strong central government, or for someone to make the hard decisions to keep our country safe and moving in the right direction. However, a government with limited power is ideal. This nation has found much too often the corruption and greed that befalls those in control. America was founded on the belief that the power was to be held in the hands of the people, but as time passes the government becomes increasingly more involved in every aspect of life.
Presidents and legislators have insisted that we run our businesses a certain way, follow certain protocols when living our lives, and paying healthcare taxes for those who do not work to pay their own. There is a fine line between helping the citizen and hindering their ability to live freely. Why should one working man have to take money out of his paycheck to help another, who can sit at home and so easily abuse the system? The government may have good intentions, but now this anonymous person is getting their healthcare at no cost of their own, and their motivation to go and find work has now no doubt lessened. This is one example of a system that many Americans despise, and it demonstrates how involved the government is in our everyday lives through what many care most about: hard-earned paychecks.
I believe that if each citizen were given the opportunity to learn how to function in society without the government telling them how to do so, society would work itself out. In "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience", Henry David Thoreau explains his ideal government simply, "That government is best which governs least." But because America is headed in the opposite direction, we must remember our obligation as citizens. He that is complacent to let the government make all of the hard decisions, and stand idly by with no voice, is a laggard and a drone.
It is up to the free-thinkers of America to remember what beliefs this country was founded on. We must remember the ultimate goal of freedom and peace within society that our founders and those that continue to fight for us have in mind.
Presidents and legislators have insisted that we run our businesses a certain way, follow certain protocols when living our lives, and paying healthcare taxes for those who do not work to pay their own. There is a fine line between helping the citizen and hindering their ability to live freely. Why should one working man have to take money out of his paycheck to help another, who can sit at home and so easily abuse the system? The government may have good intentions, but now this anonymous person is getting their healthcare at no cost of their own, and their motivation to go and find work has now no doubt lessened. This is one example of a system that many Americans despise, and it demonstrates how involved the government is in our everyday lives through what many care most about: hard-earned paychecks.
I believe that if each citizen were given the opportunity to learn how to function in society without the government telling them how to do so, society would work itself out. In "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience", Henry David Thoreau explains his ideal government simply, "That government is best which governs least." But because America is headed in the opposite direction, we must remember our obligation as citizens. He that is complacent to let the government make all of the hard decisions, and stand idly by with no voice, is a laggard and a drone.
It is up to the free-thinkers of America to remember what beliefs this country was founded on. We must remember the ultimate goal of freedom and peace within society that our founders and those that continue to fight for us have in mind.
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