COMMENTARY ON BIG GOVERNMENT

Before I state my first proposition, (which will not be until as many folks can become aware, and letters to the editor are published) let me make something very clear about what I believe to be a scourge in our country. Let me point out the elephant in the room. You may consider my opinion to be that of resentment or disgust of the poor and less fortunate. That could not be farther from the truth. It seems to me that the federal government redistributes a great amount of wealth to the rich and powerful, too. If we are going to limit the welfare state, we must start by ending the obscene practice of using the power of the government through the treasury in bailouts and handouts to corporations, subsidies to wealthy conglomerates, funding to the politically connected, dead end study and research grants to universities, and higher education scams that indoctrinate instead of educate. Our founding fathers had it right! Washington likened government to fire--useful when carefully confined and controlled, but fearsomely destructive when it surges out of control. Jefferson said that Americans should diligently use the chains of the Constitution to prevent government from “mischief.

But one thing must be added, not in defense of big business or corporations, but just a question in passing as we head to the spiritual side and the study of Christ. Is government really like God, with bigger being better? Would you really empower executives from major corporations, (you know, the ones you love to hate) oh say, like Bear Stearns, Citibank, or AIG to control your life. How about letting them determine your tax burden, devise school curricula, and regulate your business. That’s frightening to those suffering from “corpora phobia”, and guess what, I cringe from the idea myself. But why hand over such power to the federal government? Upon acquiring positions in government, folks just don’t suddenly become angelic or receive special dispensation from the frailties of human existence. Are politicians any less elitists or vastly more diverse? Would you place your children in a corporate daycare center whose executives make the decisions 1000 miles away or in your local “Teddy Bear and Hugs Daycare”? What about your local sheriff? Do you expect me to believe Butte Co. is going to suddenly contract the service to, oh let’s say, Blackwater? There are a lot of good folks in Chico CA. who have waged a campaign against Wal-Mart. Your idea or vision of Mr. Pop, half owner of “Mom and Pop’s Grocery”, is that of a fellow you meet as you walk down the street, or who offers personalized service when you’re searching for a special kind of cereal. In contrast, you disdain the big wigs from corporate USA whose rarefied air you not only will never breath but would even have trouble locating.

So, why the allegiance to the giant entity in the public arena, when the opposite is true in the private?

The principle of “subsidiarity”, coined recently by Selwyn Duke, “which states that the smallest unit of society capable of performing a given function should be the one to do so. This is why small government shouldn't be a Republican, conservative or even just a constitutionalist idea; it is simply a correct idea. It is why it’s not even just a government idea; it applies to everything. If the “family government” can handle a task, a community organization’s “government” cannot do a better job; if the former cannot tackle something but the latter can, there’s no reason to involve local government".

And the feds are the last in the chain! BC