Portal:What Government do We Want

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How should we be governed?

In America's early days we were an independent lot. We believed in liberty, a right to property, and freedom from arbitrary arrest. We saw the need for government but the problem was how to use it to maintain order without destroying liberty or trampling on our 'inalienable' rights. This balance was the subject of public debate leading up to the ratification of our constitution, articulated in essays that come down to us as The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers. It amounted to one side saying that the existing confederation of independent states provided as much government as could exist and be compatible with liberty; and the federalists saying that the Confederation was insufficient to maintain order and provide for a nation strong enough to defend itself against external (and internal) attacks on that liberty. Both sides agreed with Thomas Paine who wrote "government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one." (Common Sense 1776).

In the early 20th century there was a shift toward the progressive view that saw government not as necessary evil, but as a force for good--correcting social flaws that the minimalist approach ignored. This view holds that individual rights are not 'inalienable', but are created by government; and that a benevolent and powerful state can eliminate the economic imbalances created by our rapid industrialization and advance of technology. The constitution's limits on government power were seen as barriers to a modern state to be overcome by greater power to be exercised by impartial administrative agencies that receive power from the legislature and that major issues should be settled through the action of a democratically elected legislature unfettered by the Constitution's structure, protection of property, and judicial review.

Which do we want?
CW is on the side of liberty protected by only as much government as is necessary. We will also present thoughtful contributions that disagree.


Face to face.JPG

"And it happened that both of them came to a place
Where they bumped. There they stood -
Foot to foot - Face to face."
from The Sneetches and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss.

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Featured Article

Big Government
Today, many people use the term 'big government' to describe what they believe to be government overreach and intrusion in our daily lives at every level. Wikipedia defines it “as a derogatory term generally used by political conservatives, laissez-faire advocates, or libertarians to describe a government that they consider to be excessively large, corrupt and inefficient, or inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy or the private sector”. But, a recent Gallup poll found that 72% of us – including 56% of Democrats and 78% of independents – believe it to be a big threat. The basic problem is, Government has this innate dilemma of balancing between serving and interfering.(Full article...)