Government contributes to our problems

When I first started on this piece, the news had just broken that convicted sex offenders can get Viagra paid for by our government. I wanted to express my disgust for this situation, the utter stupidity of which is obvious to even the dim-witted. Since everyone realized that right away, even the mainstream media, saying that it is stupid at this point is, well, stupid.

However, upon thinking about how this ridiculous situation evolved, I was led rather circuitously to the conspicuous reality of just how much our government does that is contrary to common sense, and not at all what was intended by those wise gentlemen who wrote our Constitution more than 200 years ago.

Had we been sensible enough to not fiddle with that document and just live by it, had we been wise enough to stand against the efforts of judges to create and impose through judicial command laws and policies the people would never have agreed to through proper legislative channels, there would be no mechanism of government that could pay for Viagra for convicted sex offenders.

But, of course, we haven’t been sensible or wise in following the guidelines set forth for us, and we are immeasurably the worse for it. The government has grown into a largely inept, gargantuan bureaucracy with its fingers in nearly every facet of our lives. Maybe I’ll make a list later on.

In school I learned that the Framers were good men, smart men, unselfish men, who made sacrifices to establish this nation. More recently, though, I’ve come to question just how smart those guys really were. You would expect really smart people capable of developing a governing document that would last more than a mere 150 or so years before people were able to distort and dismantle it the way we have. Maybe they were unable to imagine that Americans could become selfish, self-centered and narcissistic and would forget that a thriving and enduring nation requires sacrifice and commitment from its members. I’ll bet they never dreamed of the possibility that the concept “if it feels good, do it” would become more important to Americans than pledging allegiance to their nation.

The Framers understood that it is not the responsibility of, nor is it desirable for government to provide sustenance for civilian citizens. The government’s duty to its citizens is to provide a framework under which they can use their brains, skills and initiative to make of themselves as much as they can. Some will necessarily do better than others.

We cannot successfully legislate that all of us become equal. I am a better writer than Jim. Jim is a better musician than I. No law or public policy can make him a better writer or me a better musician. Each of us has the opportunity to make ourselves better at whatever we choose to be better at, and that is all we can expect. The rest is up to us, individually and collectively, through our own initiative and good will.

Attempting to legislate equality will tear the nation apart, as we are now witnessing. The socialist tendencies that nations like France are now abandoning because they have failed and are dragging the country down are still on the upswing in the US. If we can learn anything useful from France, it is that.

Unfortunately, the liberal/progressive ideology seems not to recognize its failures, but sees more socialism as the answer.