Had a discussion with a very good friend of mine over the weekend. Although she likes the basic content of what I was writing, she was concerned that the overall tone of my blog made me sound very anti government. This concerned me because one of the criticisms that my liberal friend Rich always has for me when we were discussing the ever expanding federal government is that I want no government at all. He suggests that I want the USA to be “just like Somalia” with no federal government what so ever. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Federal government performs a number of very vital and necessary functions. It has very defined duties and responsibilities which without would allow not only the country but the world to descend into anarchy. But saying I believe the federal government should provide for the common defense or regulate state commerce does not mean I think it should have control of everything in my life. The limited scope of our federal government is what makes this country great.
Why is it that the United States is so successful? Why is the economy of the US four times larger than the next largest economy? The US is not the largest country; it is not the country with the most land or the most natural recourses, or the largest population. What could explain the growth of wealth and power of such a young country? Why is the economy of the US as large as all the EU (European Union) countries combined?
Are the Italians or Germanys or English who immigrated to the US somehow smarter than their fellow countrymen who remained in their home country? Are the Mexicans or Brazilians who are now US citizen’s harder working or more gifted than natives of their homelands? Does the land here in the US hold some magical power that allows its citizens to have personal success like nowhere else on earth? Does the Cuban who escapes to freedom in the US gain some superhuman power that allows him to have a life far beyond anything possible in Cuba? If not, why is this country so much more prosperous? What makes the USA so special?
The one thing that allows such personal achievement in the US is liberty, in no other country has a person been freer to accomplish whatever their skill and labor will allow. The difference is our constitution and system of government that historically has provided the most level and unrestricted playing field for its citizens. A system of government that allows a poor immigrant with a 4th grade education like Andrew Carnegie to become the richest man in the world. As I travel around the world I meet people who are as hard working, as smart, and as educated as people in the US. I visit countries with vast natural resources and histories that dwarf anything in America, the difference is that people in America have not been weighed down by an intrusive government that saps the fruits of their labors and punishes their success.
Every attempt by the left to “spread the wealth around” (1), every attempt by the federal government to collect higher and higher taxes that is needed to support an ever growing government, decreases the chance for personal prosperity. A government that attempts to regulate every part of our lives in an attempt to protect us from everything draws us further and further from what made us great in the first place.
(1)Barack Obama quoted 10/12/2008
Well done. It is often mistakenly put on people that want a limited Federal government that some how we want anarchy or freedom to do anything we wish including removing other peoples rights to support our own. The Constitution defines quite well what our government should be, what it should do. It has departed from that ideal as the people elected seek only to gain more power and more votes.
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