Sunday, August 21, 2016

a benevolent government ?

 Should government be a benevolent institution or is it strictly business ? Most will say it should be both. The problem lies in the fact that it cannot. It must be one or the other to serve the entire population. Giving to one group and excluding another has obvious flaws. It is only through the equal application of the law that true justice can be achieved. No exceptions or exemptions. Any such will be viewed as a corruption of that government by those that do not benefit. Isn't that the situation we find ourselves in ? I can see it no other way. It is a struggle between those that have and those that have not. The government has intervened in an attempt to equalize the financial situation and done nothing but made it worse. Patches and short term gains do nothing to solve the real issue. Regulation upon regulation does nothing but create more regulation in an unending cycle. That is the result of benevolence. It is the old , give them an inch, they will take a mile situation.
 The opposite situation is where the government is rigid and fixed. There is no flexibility in the application of law or justice. Ruling with a iron fist ! That is the perception and the reality of that system. It suffers from the same fault as the benevolent government, interpretation of the law. Where is the middle ground ? More importantly, is their a middle ground ? I argue that there is not. Either you have a fixed set of laws that apply equally to every citizen or you don't. The government does not get to exclude itself from that. But you say, who is the government. We are taught that we the people are the government. We are the government through our elected representatives. They are supposed to govern according to the will of the people. Is government doing that ? Depends upon who you ask doesn't it ? Do you advocate for a government of benevolence or strict adherence to current law. I, not surprisingly, advocate for adherence to the law. No exceptions and no exemptions.
 Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have it both ways ? I don't believe you can. Limited government ? It sounds good on the surface of things, that concept of limited government, but how to decide the limitations is the real problem with that. Big government can be more benevolent can't it ? If the government controls everything it can then control the population as well. Government gets to decide what is best. That is the result of relinquishing your power to a representative. So what do we do ? The short answer is vote. We vote for our representative based on his promises and/or qualifications. Are they saying what we want to hear ? Is it what they truly believe in their hearts ? How can we know ? We can not know that with a certainty. When it runs contrary to what we want we say the government is corrupt and become angered. When government benefits us personally, we say it is a wonderful thing. That is just human nature. So the actions we take lies in which group is currently angry. Do we satisfy that anger by increased benevolence or a stricter adherence to law ? It is like raising a child isn't it ? Which would you choose ? Reward or punishment ? Ideally government is a reflection of ourselves. That is the concept with a republic, a government of the people. Do you like the reflection you are seeing ? If you do not you may ask yourself, what contribution have I made ? To which side am I partial. Benevolence or business, which is it ? Can you be in the business of benevolence ? The big problem there is you will run out of other peoples money to give away. In business I may not profit however. So in choosing government it really is a personal choice isn't it ? Will you give other peoples money away until there is no more ? Or will you be frugal with their money in the hope that all will profit ? That is the real decision of government. Everything else depends upon that.

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