STORRS, Conn. — (UWIRE) Henry David Thoreau wrote “the government is best which governs least.”
This is not to agree with the anarchists who say “the government is best which does nothing at all” or the statists who claim “the government is best which does the most things very well” or even the liberals who attest that “the government is best which does the most things well for everybody but those who do not believe so.”
No, I believe that Mr. Thoreau touches upon something else: “The government is best which governs least,” as long as we embrace rationality and accept that it is better to do a few things well than many things wrong.
One day after class, a concerned friend informed me that, in his opinion, I do too much.
As I’m sure many over-achievers would do, I brushed it aside and said, “Of course not. You’re wrong; I’m fine.” But really, I knew he was right.
I was behind in my coursework, struggling to make deadlines and mentally drained.
Worst of all, I was unable to complete the tasks I felt most strongly about.
Then, it hit me. I was acting like the government. I was trying to do too much, too quickly. As a result, I was doing more things poorly than I was doing things well.
Nowadays, Americans look to the government to do much more than protect and defend.
They expect the government to dictate who can and cannot get married, how much money citizens should make and who can build what on private land.
Then, with time and resources devoted to all those issues, the government forgets its priorities. The economy collapses. The budget explodes. Unemployment rises.
Politicians make many promises to get elected — balance the budget, create jobs, defend against enemies, protect the environment and respect family values.
Once elected, however, they realize it is very difficult to live up to promises that are too broad and too difficult to fix quickly with limited political resources.
Meanwhile, they create the dangerous political illusion that they — the government — should care about certain issues they have no business caring about in the first place.
Say a candidate from Political Party A decides to run on family values. This position appeals to many voters who think, “Of course, who would not want their government to represent family values?” If this candidate wins and becomes part of the government, politicians now consider family values to be a winning campaign slogan, and voters come to expect future candidates to run on the same platform.
But theoretically, a candidate from Political Party B may come along and claim that the government should restrict which TV shows parents can allow their children to watch, all under the guise of family values.
Soon, voters and politicians waste their time debating useless tangents while ignoring the issues that the government should really care about, like economic health and defense.
By focusing on secondary issues that are neither essential to the nation’s survival nor realistically feasible in the first place, the government distracts itself and accomplishes little.
After I spoke with my friend, I considered the ways in which the government and I can rediscover our priorities. I can drop a class, cut a club and spend less time out with friends.
The government can cut certain departments and identify and eliminate certain programs.
The president can use the bully pulpit to create a new vision for America like John F. Kennedy, who had the ability to outline what citizens should expect out of their government, what the government should be responsible for and which issues are more appropriate for discussion in churches, schools and around dinner tables.
The government cannot do everything. Neither I, nor any one individual person, can do everything.
Until citizens learn to demand quality over quantity from their elected representatives, and until the government accepts this, the government will continue to cave under the pressure of problems it was never designed to fix.
Read more at http://www.dailycampus.com/commentary/americans-shouldn-t-depend-on-government-1.1598262