Big Questions From An American Teenager
These statements, questions, opinions, and answers (along with a few more questions) were passed on from Hannah, a 17 year old reader in South Carolina. Anyone want to take a stab at clarifying and help Hannah understand some of the ‘specifics’?
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America is good place, not perfect, but good.
(America is a failing empire… Broke and out of shape)
If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
(This includes all?)
I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and not a guarantee of equal results.
(This is true… But our Constitution is a guarantee for equal rights, in a way)
I work hard for what I have. I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
(Taxes must be paid, nonetheless… If not, then would there be healthcare? Fire departments? An educational system?)
It is not un-American for me to disagree or share my personal opinion.
(“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”)
The government works for me. I do not answer to them. They answer to me.
- “Democracy is a political government carried out either directly by the people (direct democracy) or by means of elected representatives of the people”
- “A republic is a type of government where the citizens choose their leaders of their country and the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government”
By my father, I am told that America is a Republic. I am also told that the new Health Care Bill is a piece of crap that goes to help pay for not only the people working, but also for those that are living off of welfare and lying on their behinds. (Negative)
By my mother, I am told the Health Care Bill is a wonderful opportunity for her… All those mothers and fathers, single and helpless when it comes to keeping up health… So many turned down because of a pre-existing condition. (Positive)
By other just completely random people, I am told that America is a Democracy. How are we a Democracy? We chose our leader, didn’t we? We still have an impact on the government… But we don’t directly run the country, do we?
So what’s going on here? What exactly is it that we’re fighting for? What is in the health care bill?
Hi Hannah,
The answer is we are a Representative Government. We elect people to represent us in the Fed, State, and local governments. We lend them our power so they can do our biding, however both parties are very afar afield of that ideal. In an Ideal world the these parties would come to a consensus and make laws or whatever but that does not happen. In the Federal government the House of Representatives was set up to be more liberal than the Senate regardless of political ideology. Three books that should be required reading for anyone are the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist papers and any book on Alexis Tocqueville. Tocqueville has said a “Democracy (our form of govt) is only as good as the people that watch it ” or something close to that effect. What he meant was as long as people stay educated then this form of government will work. In my life time public schools have deteriorated to epic lows. In order to change government you have to educate the people. Our nation is not coming out the Pax Romana we are a young nation and we are still finding our way through turbulent seas.
From my stand point I appreciate hard work and less government. I realize that some people are not as fortunate. Having been on that side I am now on the side of the unfortunate. Like your mother I have a pre-existing condition and have not worked in 18 months. While I would benefit from this legislation I still do not like it frankly I do not trust my government. In life time I have seen the whole rape of Social Security, a War on Poverty, a War on Education, Medicaid, all of these have failed miserably. For me to add this Health Care solution to rolls of government intervention is wrong. Having said that this does not mean I am not opposed to Health Care reform which I am not. Things that need to be done are not being done for example: Getting rid of HMO’s; or allowing insurance companies work across state lines; encourage businesses and insurance companies to explore free enterprise solutions through tax incentives and so on … If you want to know what is in the Health Care Bill look it up on the House or Senates Web site. It is 3200 pages of crap in my humble opinion. What gets me is that no Senator or Representative has read the Damn bill. I have managed to read 2/3′s of the Bill and wanted to bang my head against a concrete wall. In the end Americans need to remind both parties who they are working for cause after all we are a government “For the people by the people”.
Finding our way through Turbulent Teas, Dave!!
“We chose our leader, didn’t we?”
I don’t know why, but on re-read this morning that struck me.
We do not choose our leaders. WE are the leaders. We choose administrators for our programs and representatives for our legislative bodies. Neither “leads” us.
The only ‘Leading’ that ought to be done in our particular case is leading of the government by it’s internal command structure, and leading of troops by the armed forces (who all sign contracts removing them temporarily from accomodation by the constitution and placing them under the UCMJ’s jurisdiction while on duty or for things affecting duty).
You must sit back and ask yourself this question; Does the office of the President lead you, rule you, represent you, or serve you?
The only thing that is to rule the people of the United States of America is the law. No more, no less. Government exists solely to provide services for the people and for the caretaking and execution of the law.