Governance versus Politics

Posted by JaxGary 10 years, 2 months ago to Government
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Now that the 2014 mid-term election cycle is behind us we see the early stages of the 2016 presidential election, we should consider the desired role of government. Do we want a government that protects the people or one that rules over them? Do we want governance or politics as usual?

Governance is simply fulfilling the responsibilities assigned to their office; and restricting ALL of their official activities to doing only those things. Our founders thought the only proper role of government is to protect the people and the property owned by them. Government exists to do only those things for the people that the people cannot do for themselves. Governance is the essence of preserving individual liberty and freedoms.

Politics, on the other hand, is a system of coercion that concentrates power in a few individuals so they may exert that power over others to achieve whatever personal goals those rulers have established for themselves. Politics is most effective in state and national government as the body of elected officials have the legal authority to lay and collect taxes and then use those revenues to reward their friends and punish their enemies. Politics is antithetical to individual freedom!

There are really only two choices; a government that protects the people or a government that abuses the people.

The American people need to recognize politics for what it is – an abusive power grab by elected and appointed elites who believe only they are smart enough to make decisions for the average person. The reality is that no government system or form can endure unless the majority of the people support it. Why do so many Americans today support a corrupt system that takes from some and gives to others while burdening all?

Our economy in in total shambles compared to where it was shortly after the industrial revolution when we produced more than half of the manufactured goods in the world. The dollar has lost almost all of its value in the last hundred years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI inflation calculator, it would take $23.62 today to purchase what could have been purchased in 1913 for $1.00; an inflation rate of 2,362%! Another way of looking it is that only 3 cents would have bought in 1913 what $1.00 will buy today. A penny had real value at that time.

Politics has created government growth resulting in an out-of-control behemoth that currently has an insatiable appetite for taxing and spending. Today Congress, as an institution, is only respected by a single-digit percentage of Americans who think they are doing a good job of governing.

My question is why any American thinks Congress is governing!


All Comments


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  • Posted by DeanStriker 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Indeed, most humans have been "conditioned" to accept being Ruled. That doesn't speak well at all for our species!
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  • Posted by DeanStriker 10 years, 2 months ago
    "Politics is antithetical to individual freedom!"

    Strike "politics", replacing that with GOVERNment. Politics is merely the natural and inevitable part of that equation.

    Surely you realize that GOVERNments are always granted powers of Force. As the People have no role in the so-called Balance of Powers, it always results in Tyranny and eventually governments always fail. Ditto all the empires and kingdoms and land barons before them. Always they fail, yet always they are replaced in kind..

    Everyone is supposedly born with the Right to Life, which necessarily includes other rights to sustain and enhance that life. That can mean only that Individual Sovereignty must prevail. As it stands today and always before, Governments are "permitted" to deny that Sovereignty, and the Billions of Sheeple on this planet accept it without question. It's Catch22 in action.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Your last sentence is my argument.
    Maybe I'm being too abstract and can't wrap my head around that.
    That's OK.
    Jimmy Carter would call us both racists for not thinking like the emperor.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I can't quite wrap my mind around your concept of the people being the government. The government, at least in the USA, was created by the people and some of the rights of the people had to be ceded to the government to allow the government to have authority. However, the people remained sovereign, in that the government was not as powerful as the people. Somewhere along the way, the roles have become revered as our central government seems to behave as if they are the sovereign and we the people are their underlings. It is precisely that bloating of the government from the protector of individual rights to the exploiter of individual rights that is the problem. Our Founders were well aware of that potential risk and cautioned that this republic was only fit for honest and just people; the looters and moochers have found a way to corrupt our republic into a de facto democracy and the history of the world has shown that democracies all die the same death. When voters realize they can vote transfer of wealth schemes into existence, they quit working and the downward death spiral begins.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 10 years, 2 months ago
    I recall Ronald Reagan back around 1980 saying that government "is the problem."
    Folks back then recognized that Reagan referred to three three branches of government and the vast bureaucracy that went with it.
    Of course, "We The People" started out to be and allegedly still is the government.
    Now to date among "We The People" we must factor in all the low information voters, the moochers, and the socialists who play the former two groups as a percentage of "We The People."
    A huge percentage. A growing percentage.
    Looks like my reasoning just went full circle, y'all.
    The government still is the problem..
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  • Posted by Rocky_Road 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The justification for government employee pensions used to be that they were being paid less than their equals in the private sector...but that is no longer the truth.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I would rather have than as pawns of the state than pawns of the central government. The government that governs best is the government that is closer to the people it represents because people are willing to hold local government more responsible than the far away DC crowd. All duplicity should be immediately eliminated; if the states have a program, the federal program should be abolished. I won't even sympathize for those hundreds of thousands of unemployed former federal workers.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 2 months ago
    We have become a lazy, self-indulgent country that would rather let the government do it, than recognize freedom means that We must do it for ourselves.. To the degree that we turn our responsibilities over Big Brother, to that degree, we have lost your freedom. The most important question for Americans today is whether we can backtrack away from the Nanny State and put the responsibility of people's lives back into our own hands, and if that can be done, will the people who are so used to being taken care of, respond positively, or remain dependent until they are pawns of the state.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I believe CircuitGuy and I are actually saying the same thing; and neither of us is placing a heavy reliance on the past few decades. We can quibble amongst ourselves on the minutia or we can agree on the big picture. Inflation is fraud and theft; regardless of whether it is a 2% rate of theft or a 3% rate of theft, it is still THEFT! We should NOT tolerate intentional inflation. Whatever amount of money is in the money supply is always sufficient; the monetarists are simply wrong from an economic perspective. Does anyone besides me find it amusing the monetarist school is thought is also referred to as the Chicago School?
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  • Posted by Im_J-hnG-lt 10 years, 2 months ago
    Government at it's best is a useful servant and at it's worst a terrible monster.
    Like a parent unable to appropriately address the needs of their children, turn on them, using coercion and physical force which escalates to violence and disassociation.
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  • Posted by $ CBJ 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's an inflation rate of 3% only if one relies on the government's figures. The Consumer Price Index has been heavily massaged during the past few decades to make price inflation appear lower than it really is.

    http://www.shadowstats.com/
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  • Posted by 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Why do we pay a pension to any government worker OTHER THAN the US military and others who directly put their lives at risk in fulfilling their duties. I cannot equate a military retiree with a retired grounds keeper in a federal park. The entire entitlement mentality seems to defy logic. Risk should be linked to return. Civil servants have very little risk and usually have better retirements the military retirees. As a military retiree, I am profoundly grateful for the healthcare benefits. Thanks to all of you for making sure my wife and I are so well taken care of in that regard.
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  • Posted by DennisKebrdle 10 years, 2 months ago
    Nice note--on point, we elect representatives (supposed to!!) of our views, not "leader" or "bosses". the king died in 1783! we can fix this mess--term limits--no life long pension or health care for elected persons--it is a privledge not a life long position of aristocracy! add in the multiple pensions being captured? why would we pay more than one pension to any government worker? non-elected only as noted! there shouldn't be a pension per job--esp as there is still the belief that 20 and out due to crappy pay has gone by the way side. we've given them the keys to the cashbox. let's change the game.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 10 years, 2 months ago
    The reason why Americans believe Congress is governing is because we've been conditioned. We have, for far too long, been given two unpalatable choices for the symbol of American leadership, the US President. Now that office has been blatantly soiled by refuse and the only hope to correct matters has to come from Congress. SCOTUS has failed us too many times and there simply is no promise coming out of the globalist RNC and leftist dnc party-poster children to think conviction in any one person will stand again the tidal wave of DC immorality, infidelity and corruption.The hope, unfortunately, relies in, frighteningly, the collective consciousness of congress coming to the proper conclusions to thwart the ever increasing slide into history's cesspit while Useful idiOts cheer.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 2 months ago
    I agree with all of that except the part about monetary policy. It's actually an inflation rate of 3%, which you can verify by taking 1.03^(2015-1913). This is the target rate of inflation. They've stayed close to it all my adult life. It's easy to account for when comparing historical prices and easy to update prices in Quickbooks, so I don't see why anyone gives it a second thought.

    Regarding the part about Congress's approval, most people disapprove of Congress but like their Congressman. Maybe someone can crack the issue of getting people to hold their own congressmen accountable.
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