The Purpose of Government

As we've recently been bombarded with the government needing to "step in and do something" about a myriad of things from Hurricane Sandy, to Sandy Hook Elementary, to people being too fat, to the fiscal cliff, I can't help but think what the true role of government is in all of our lives.

 In my opinion, the government of the United States of America exists for a very simple, yet important purpose: to preserve liberty. Establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty are the critical few items called out by our founders as the cornerstone of the US Constitution.

 Article I Section 8 lays out the specific functions of congress in a very easy (well, mostly easy... it was written a couple hundred years ago) to understand way.

 It's funny, if you keep reading on to Article II, you'll see what little power the President actually has according to the Constitution.

 Anywho, I would also like to call special attention to two very specific amendments: Number 2, the gun one; and number 4, security.

 These two amendments mean that I can have whatever "arm" I want, and the government can't do anything about it unless a judge thinks I did something wrong with those specific arms.

 Does anyone remember the old adage "innocent until proven guilty"? Have you thought about that phrase in a while? Do you feel innocent when going through airport security? Do you feel innocent when a police officer is riding behind you on your way to work? Do you feel innocent having drones capable of destroying your property flying around your stuff, watching what you do? Do you feel innocent having a gun (or many) with all the anti-gun sentiment going around now-a-days? Do you find it interesting that you more then likely have been in every single one of these situations (except for maybe the drone one... or maybe not...) having done nothing wrong but feeling like the government can "find" something on you to punish? These do not sound like the actions of a government ensuring domestic tranquility or the feelings of a free man in a free country.

Nothing bothers me more than when an elected official says that the "rich" need to pay their "fair share" of the tax burden in America.  First off, I'm pretty sure the rich pay WAY MORE than their "fair share" (whatever that is supposed to mean); second off, there are too many people with no skin in the game that it makes for a very divided country (class warfare anyone... ANYONE!).  How hard would it be to figure out how much you need to spend (notice I said NEED), and then enact a low, broad tax rate among everyone so that EVERYONE is contributing to help the country along?  It seems like we have two examples of one state having a low, broad tax rate (Texas) and another state with a tax-the-rich sort of attitude (California); please tell me which one is in a more financially stable state?

Alright, I know this post has kind of been all over the place (KIND OF!?!?), but I'm just hoping it gets people thinking.  Thinking about what freedom means; thinking about why we have a Constitution; thinking about why our government (current state) needs the citizenry to be afraid.

It's been a long while since I've posted on my blog.  I'm hoping to make this a more regular thing, and I hope there is an audience out there that enjoys my writings.  Leave a post and tell me what you think: about this thread, about what you would like to hear more about, about what an idiot you think I am, lol.  Either way, have a good night and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

AJC