Part I: I Believe

If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.—Alexander Hamilton

According to the body of the United States Constitution, there is one area where our government is required to protect us and can protect us: national defense, period.

But now I am must make a confession to provide some context for my viewpoint. I am a Hamiltonian Federalist (I have even visited Hamilton’s gravesite; yes, I am a true believer). After my introductory blog, you might find that hard to believe, but truly, if the Federalist Party existed today, I would be a card carrying member.

Hamilton believed in a strong central government and so do I, but strong and centralized should not be confused with big and intrusive. Like Hamilton I believe that the original Constitution, sans Bill of Rights and other amendments, was, in its strict construction, the perfect vehicle for creating just the right size of Federal government. A Goldilocks’ government: not to strong and not to weak, but just right.

That Government was simple. It was neither pretentious nor paternalistic. It provided for the common defense. It apportioned the taxes from the various states. It was as Utopian as a government could be in this earthly existence.

The Constitution was a fence that kept big government contained and individuals protected. Then, due to fear, fear that we continue to nurture, amendments, progressive idealisms, and judicial decisions broke through the Constitutional fence that protected the individual from intrusive government. Soon we the people found ourselves at the mercy of big government once more. Part II: The Big Lie.

Down With Big Government in Four Parts

The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. --Henry Louis Mencken

This country was founded on a healthy suspicion and reasonable loathing of big, intrusive government, so how have we come to a place where our government is now exponentially bigger and more intrusive than that government we fought to free ourselves from? The answer is: FEAR.

This gargantuan government was fed on fear. Fear of spoiled food=USDA. Fear of bad medicines=FDA. Fear of failing banks=FDIC. Fear of terrorist attacks=Homeland Security. You see the pattern.

Some event, isolated or systemic occurs; we fear; politicians feed our fears; new government program (with its regulations and taxes) is created. I know. You truly believe that such institutions are necessary and so did I, but on further scrutiny I believe I was brain washed into believing it is so and believing that these institutions protect me. They do not. They only protect me from taking personal responsibility for my own life.

I now believe that government institutions are the opiates of the masses and that if we really are intent on freeing ourselves from the big and intrusive Federal Government we need to reprogram our belief that the government can protect us. Next-- Part I: I Believe.