What are the pros and cons of having the government in our eveyday lives and do you approve?

Define “having the government in our eveyday lives”? That is a very broad statement. I think the pros would be the services and protection they provide, and the cons would be taxes and the heated political environment. I would also say a con was the unnecessary wars we are involved in, but I really don’t consider that as something in my everday life.

Sorry for takein so long to get back but to answer your question, no I don’t feel like I have a say, I have written and called senators and congressmen and have gotten no reply, even at the state level I have gotten no response, I’m not happy about that I can so. Their are many problems in the state where I live which is Ohio, and nothing is getting done. Everyone is leaveing the state as well, its sad really

Oooops meant I’m not happy I can say*

The wars are encroaching in your everyday life when you factor in the inflation and taxes spent to bankroll them… but I get your distinction.

“That government is best which governs least” Thomas Paine.

A government with excess authority tends to exercise its authority to ensure its own posterity and the rule of those who head it. It is no coincident that the US government has bankrupted its people to create a plebeian class dependent upon their government to sustain their diminished standards of living. This ensures its continuance and entrenches the elite in their exalted status. We become vassals to the state and under its supervision instead of the masters of the state as was the intention of founding fathers.

In such a free republic though… the people are charged with the task of remaining vigilant in protection of their free rein. As goes popular sentiment and the lackadaisical corruption of opulence, so goes the ability to retain hard won freedom. Following the Constitutional Conventions, Philadelphians gathered outside of Independence Hall questioned Benjamin Franklin as he left, “Which do we have, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

I am afraid we are losing it… if it isn’t already entirely lost. We have allowed the elite to rob us of real wealth via the Federal Reserve System. Our prisons are full of inmates arrested for vices… not crimes. We have given up our rights to privacy and protections against illegal search and seizure. We have given up our expectations of due process in the legal system. We have accepted government mandated extortion. We have allowed the executive to take control of the entire legislative branch of government and rule through bureaucracies who sidestep the protections of the legal checks and balances inherent to a republic. We are on the verge of losing our first amendment rights by allowing an executive takeover of the internet.

If popular sentiment is any gauge of where we are headed, I am not optimistic that the younger generation is aware of their responsibility to see through the bullsh!t propaganda and make the right decisions.

I think the government bears the responsibility of ensuring its citizens welfare. I would like to see stipends for healthcare… schooling… disability and retirement. I would like to see a much reduced defense that would be tasked with defending against foreign invasion… not one that invades and establishes a system of protectorates. Not much else.

Very true…

Thought-provoking as usual. Excellent post…

Can’t agree completely with everything you said (no surprise there), but I agree that We The People have lost control of government and it is being controlled by corporations and the super wealthy.

I just hope all is not lost…

Nobody is really sure who said “The Government is best which governs least.” Paine is often credited with it but so is Henry David Thoreau. I’ve read pretty much everything Thomas Paine has ever written and don’t recall running across that phrase. Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed similar sentiments “Hence the less government we have the better.” The quote “the government that governs best governs least” (which is the way I usually hear it) has also been credited to Paine as well as John Adams. In any case, our economic woes can largely be credited to President Ronald Reagan who started the current trend of shifting the tax burden away from the wealthy and corporations and giving industry a free hand through deregulation.

Thanks!… me too.

I appreciate the correction. It’s often the case that a quote is attributed incorrectly when referenced online…especially one as old. It’s almost impossible to verify except through process of elimination… thanks. I am envious of your ability to recollect. I can barely remember what I read last night