We constantly hear various arguments from the Left and scratch our heads, wondering how such lines of reasoning are even possible. Because whether we’re discussing deficits, birth control, guns, national security, health care or education, the Left’s answer always seems to be, “more government!“.
“I got a fever, ….and the only prescription…., is MORE GOVERNMENT!!”
Such a myopic adherence to an obviously flawed institution would be puzzling, until you consider what their true belief system is. And make no mistake, that’s where this comes from: belief. Which means that far from being a statement of logic, it’s a statement of faith.
Thanks to a rare moment of honesty, we were able to see this on full display from the Senate floor, courtesy of Real Clear Politics:
(Sen. Harry Reid – NV): “Government is not inherently bad; government is inherently good. That’s why we have a Constitution and that’s what we direct the activities of this government based upon.” (from the Senate Floor, April 23, 2013)
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Oh, sure, there’s a bunch more in that statement, as Reid manages to slander the entire Tea Party as anarchists, which is both sad and laughable on its face. But to me, the truly revealing part is his belief in the beneficence of government itself.
“Government is inherently good?” Really? I don’t believe our founders would have echoed that statement, and they CREATED our government. Seeing as how they were fighting their own King at the time, they presumably were somewhat cognizant of just how governments could (and usually did) become corrupted, and always at the expense of the citizenry.
But such honesty is wonderfully illustrative, and this aspect of his statement is getting lost in the whole “Tea Party = Anarchists” nonsense. It certainly clarifies why the Left doesn’t mind gutting Freedom of Religion in favor of you paying for mandatory contraception. It also makes clear why they deem your Second Amendment concerns as the province of the “black helicopter crowd”. If government is inherently good, then anyone who is against anything which the government wants to do must then be bad, or at the very least crazy. And it goes without saying that an inherently “good” government always does things FOR you, and not TO you.
Uhhh, …sure it does.
The litany of government abuses is long enough that I could type all day, and not include even 1% of the available examples. Lucky for me, the Left decided to give me a new one, which typifies just how addled this thinking is.
Members of both parties on Capitol Hill — you know, the one that hates ObamaCare entirely and the other that swears by its benefits — are working on a plan to exempt themselves and their staffs from the exchanges the rest of America will have to use.
(via Politico.com) – “The talks — which involve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the Obama administration and other top lawmakers — are extraordinarily sensitive, with both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout from giving carve-outs from the hugely controversial law to 535 lawmakers and thousands of their aides. Discussions have stretched out for months, sources said.”
Yep, our oh-so-trustworthy government is desperately trying to figure out a way to exempt themselves from a law which a majority of the country never wanted and still doesn’t want. They wish to wriggle their way out from the effects of a law which was literally strong-armed through Congress and subsequently stuffed down our throats.
You know, ’cause they’re so gosh-darned good n’ all.
These are not the actions of an “inherently good” anything. These are the actions of a privileged, self-indulgent, cosseted class which feels that it deserves not the encumbrances of the hoi polloi, …those very encumbrances that our modern-day nobles designed, by the way.
This, in a word, is tyranny.
And even though that is my opinion, I’m in some fairly decent company:
And Jefferson had another quote, which I like even more:
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
Nothing on Earth is inherently good, Senator Reid: not man, nor anything that man designs.
And the fact that you don’t appear to accept that highly provable fact says far more about you and your fellow-travelers, than it does about those of us with whom you disagree.
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***UPDATE*** (4/25/13 @ 4:30pm): Looks like the GOP wants nothing to do with the second example I included above:
(from The Daily Caller) – Republican senators pushed back on the idea that Congress ought to receive an exemption from the health-care exchanges required under Obamacare, after Politico reported Thursday that leaders from both parties had been involved in negotiations to do just that for aides and lawmakers.
(…)
“Obamacare is a train wreck. Congress shouldn’t be able to get out of Obamacare until everyone else does,” said Lindsey Graham.
Good to hear. And it doesn’t change a single syllable of my overall point.
Our government mustn’t be allowed to walk over the top of us, because if it can… it will. Or, to quote Montesquieu:
“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare, as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy”
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***UPDATE #2*** (4/26/13 @ 10:01 am): And now, ….the Democrats are running away from my second example, as well:
(from Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com) – “It didn’t take long for Democrats to hit reverse on their effort to exempt Capitol Hill from ObamaCare’s exchange rules. The Hill reports this morning that not only are they no longer seeking an exemption, but that they never sought one in the first place…”
This is typical, and is the ultimate illustration of what an engaged populace (aided by a dash of Twitter & blogosphere “shaming”) can do in today’s political world.
But to quote Ed one more time: “…shame on Capitol Hill is a very temporary, and curable affliction.“
Two Heads are Better Than One 
Sadly, the overall situation has deteriorated to where there ISN’T any more “discussion” of the ISSUES. Now, it’s all about name calling, accusation, innuendo, slander, and outright lies. Throw that into a sorely undereducated population, and Government (Left AND Right) can seemingly get away with all of this stuff, operating behind the smokescreen THEY have created.
Mark Levin covered this beautifully in “Liberty and Tyranny”.
Senator Reid saying: “Government is not inherently bad; government is inherently good. That’s why we have a Constitution and that’s what we direct the activities of this government based upon.” makes me wonder how much crack HE’S been smoking.
I absolutely loved Levin’s book, and you’re right: it covers this topic expertly.
I have no doubt that Reid has never read it. After hearing him say these words, however, I’m unsure if he’d even understand why, and by how much, he’s wrong.
Agreed. To guys like Reid, if the idea comes from the “other side” of the aisle, it’s immediately disregarded. Like Obama, his mind is made up…..and DON’T try to confuse them with silly little things like FACTS.
Wow, there is just so much to say about this. To say that we have a Constitution BECAUSE government is good, is a contradiction. I have always understood that our Constitution was constructed to protect the rights of citizens FROM the government, and guaranteeing our rights…, despite the attempts by big government to abolish most of them.
Our forefathers knew the problems of government and sought ways to limit it, or at least its ability to do stupid things. Hence the incorporation of checks and balances.
I never know if I should hope that the people that make these claims are just stupid or if they are intentionally rewriting history.
If they are just stupid we can hope people will catch on and do something about it. However I fear that if it is intentional we have a lot of problems ahead of us.
Well said, Dragon: “I have always understood that our Constitution was constructed to protect the rights of citizens FROM the government, and guaranteeing our rights…”
You were obviously paying attention during your classes as a kid.
😀
Yes, that’s exactly the reason for much of the machinery built into our Constitution. It was precisely for the people’s protection FROM THE STATE that so many laws, and the separation of powers, were put in place.
Having suffered under the thumb of King George, the founders weren’t eager to set up their new country for the same fate. That’s why Franklin uttered his famous warning, when asked what kind of government we were to have, “A Republic, if you can keep it”.
He wasn’t afraid of our absentmindedly misplacing it; he knew that government always looked to further enable itself and grow its own power. This was the reason that the Articles of Confederation were created: they severely limited central power, ceding it to the states. It was only when they proved inadequate (monetarily and otherwise) that the Constitution was considered to replace the original Articles.
Even then, several famous patriots (such as Patrick Henry) refused to attend the convention in 1787-88, when our current Constitution was written: they were suspicious of any central government, since they’d already experienced firsthand what that was like.
Government, ANY government, is run by men, …and men are fallible. Thus, government is fallible.
So Harry Reid, or anyone, who says that government is “inherently good” is either (A) an idiot, (B) a liar, or (C) both.
I’m going with (C).
In the middle of the day I received an email with the phone number for congress and instructions to ask for my congressman to tell him what I think of him and his aids becoming exempt from Obama are. Hahahahahaha. I know they got an earful. It was hard getting through.
Awesome! They heard from me, too.
Our politicians are elected to “lead”, not “rule”. They seem to keep forgetting that. And we keep forgetting that THEY forget.
Easy system: we remind them, every week, that they’re governing with our consent, ….and consent can be revoked.
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” James Madison, Federalist 51
Government is one of those systems that is needed only because mankind is so sinful. Left on our own we go back to the jungle. But since government is made by men and made up of men, it’s always difficult to create one that is based on liberty, which is why liberty is so fragile. People in America seem to have lost sense of how fragile liberty is and how bad a government can really become.
Great quote, DD, and one of many which I love from the Federalist Papers.
It’s just like anything else: to be truly appreciative is something that does not come naturally to men. It’s something we’re taught in church, and through prayer. But without perspective, folks look at their own situation and think “well, this is the baseline”. Yet, it’s not.
The baseline, the REAL one, is squalor, it’s soul-wrenching poverty.
Government is much the same: Liberty isn’t the baseline, it’s the DREAM… and we achieved it. But because Liberty IS the ultimate dream, it is incredibly fragile, just as you said.
And because Liberty is all the know, they don’t know enough to appreciate what they have.
Maybe in this era of 3D glasses and “virtual reality”, we should force people to experience what it’s like to live under the REAL baseline: despotism, …but just in a “virtual” sense. Then see if they understand the wonders of what we’ve accomplished in the past 200+ years.
Our Government doesn’t define our people; here, at least, our people define our Government.
Great post, babe.
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