How Did We Get Here--A Recap

Big Government Goes Viral

By Dennis Jones
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. - Thomas Jefferson

Background
Back in the late 1700’s when our independence from Britain was declared, the colonies had some idea of what they didn’t want in a ruling government. They envisioned a limited government that would protect individual rights and liberty and that would rule by majority. Since then, the federal bureaucracy has evolved from its creation as a protector of liberty and individual rights to securing our welfare and economic well-being. Today the governments’ involvement in our daily lives is ubiquitous. Just a few days ago it was announced that the Compensation Czar would order pay cuts for the recently bailed out firms; 90% pay cuts for the 25 most highly compensated persons in each firm. In the past year we have witnessed the administration asking for the resignation of Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors and choosing his replacement, an unprecedented event usually left for the boards of directors. The nearly 2,000 page health care bill being debated today makes the choice for us as to whether or not we elect to insure ourselves for health care and highly regulates employers’ options for insuring their employees. It may be the biggest single power grab ever. The current administration’s proliferation of czars has taken the bureaucracy to a whole new level as the utilization of these czars ostensibly amounts to a usurpation of power by the executive branch unchecked by congress and therefore beyond accountability. There has been a fundamental shift from thinking that private enterprise can create wealth and solve problems more efficiently than the bureaucracy to the reverse; anything the private sector can do, the government can do better. This flies in the face of the beliefs of the authors of the Constitution as eloquently stated by one of the most influential of those authors:

James Madison: “If industry and labor are left to take their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out.â€