What is the proper role of government? Taking into account democratic principles and demographic realities.
for me personal, i believe a govenment in a liberal democracy is supposed to be a representative of the people. its should protect the rights of these people- usually defined in a bill of rights, it should never excede power that is defined in a constitiution. it should look after the people of that nation as that is where the power is held and also where the decisions for where the money goes to. it should represent their states view on international affairs. in modern int. politics they have a duty to protect the human rights and alos help on issues such as poverty and the environment. although i know initially this wasn't what they were for, but these are threats to the world which may cause big problems in the future, so they have a duty to look after the countries future. i think that govenments shoudl think long term which is where problems lie because gov't are only in for a short period. i think local govt should have more say on what goes on locally, and their should be a govt that looks after international affairs. the gov't role is to make law, not enforce law. their should be a seperation of powers, so the gov't cannot get too powerful. the govenment should be for the people by the people and should not have the power to do things such as ID cards etc as these are things that make out the gov't is seperate from their citizens. peacex
i do believe that the modern US gov't has gone beyond the power given to them by the constitution. the constitution is supposed to be sovereign! if the constitution is outdated then it should be thrown out and revolution, however i do not have this stance on the US constitution, i think this constitution is still relevant because i admire what it used to stand for. Here in the UK, however i do believe change is in order as we don't have a codified constitution and bill of rights to ourselves, but these things look to be be brought in through the European Union.
i think politics should be made really local again, however i do also think we should elect a national representatives who just deal with international issues, such as poverty, the environement, things that affect all humans not just locally. the nation state is too small and too big at the same time, if you get that. peacex
i am not a realist at all, but c'mon..... we as humans do not always know what is right for others. i.e. how do we know what actions could damage the environment or cause more poverty. i do not think you know the exact way to act unless we had a bit of guidance. so as morals are relative to all, if your moral was that shooting someone was okay or anything then as long as your okay with it, its fine? so what do you propose (except communism ) if the govt doesn't get the complete majority of all votes possible, because on many elections, the majority do not turn out. i think the gov't should be by the people for the people, therefore politics should be done locally where we can make a difference, and we should elect different people for dealing with international affairs, forget this two part system crap peacex
Boy, ain't it the truth? Damn shame.... Aw, well. On to the question. Speaking strictly as to the role of the Federal government of the United States, I think the following sums it up well. Section 8 - Powers of Congress The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, ImpostsExcises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises and shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Other than that, I believe their role should be to stay the Hell out of my business. The government has no right to demand ID from me, to prop up shitty little foreign countries on my dime, to tell me what guns I may or may not have, who or what I can have sexual relations with, how I educate my children, how big an engine I may have in my car, what I read or consume or prevent me from damaging my body in whatever way I see fit. Our system is broken. People in places of power have been allowed to run unchecked for far to long. Our government was never intended to be the bloated monstrosity it has become. We need to get back to a place where states rights are placed above federal powers, and citizen rights above states. Slutter, check your PMs.
Greens to Join in Global Warming Protests in Montreal Dec 3rd With the news about global warming ever more ominous and the Bush administration's denial, disregard and disruption of global initiatives ever more egregious, we often find it hard not to despair. But today there may be cause for optimism. Climate activists including many Greens are on the move, around the world, in Montreal, and in the USA. December 3rd is rapidly evolving into the largest and most dramatic day of citizen action against global warming to date. Together we can make December 3rd a watershed event in the fight against global warming. The Climate Crisis Coalition is coordinating two campaigns for the December 3rd International Day of Action to Stop Global Warming: Climate Crisis, USA Join the World! campaign. Actions are expected in at least 60 localities. The People's Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. Organizers will take the petition to Montreal for a media event with sister organizations also sponsoring global warming petitions. Together with Environmental Defense, Greenpeace, Energy Action and others, we will have at least 650,000 signatures. Here is the latest on what is happening and what you can do to help with Actions on December 3rd: Momentum is building across the United States http://www.climatecr isiscoalition.org/local-actions-december-3.html The largest North American protest will be at the U.N. Climate Conference in Montreal: http://www.3dec2005.org/-en-, People around the world are organizing for the big day. http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/ We're taking the petition to the U.N. Conference in Montréal. http://www.kyotoandbeyond.org/montreal -december-3.html What you can do to help: Forward this newsletter to friends and associates. Help in the two-week drive to collect signatures for the People's Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. With 17,000 signatures in hand; we'd like to have many more by Dec. 3rd. These additional signatures will make our presence in Montreal stronger and help us lay the groundwork for a far more massive drive aimed at next year's congressional races. Please urge people you know to sign this petition by going to our website http://www.kyotoandbeyond.org Help other environmental initiatives. Environmental Defense
The government clealry has a role for the welfare of its citizens. I'm all for free markets, but a lot of people complain way too much about taxes. Taxes are clearly a good thing, particularlly income taxes. Look at a state with a moderate income tax, like Massachusetts, which has some of the best medical care and the highest literacy rate in the nation, to a state like Texas, with no income tax, which has the lowest number of vaccinated children due to poor health care coverage, and the lowset percentage of high school graduates in the country. The state clearly need to provide for equal education and healthcare options for the poor. Your damn money isn't as important as the welfare of the state. You don't work hard enough to ignore the needs of society. Like I said, I'm clearly pro-business, but there are also areas like immunizations, which need government incintives in areas like vacination tech. Working on an entirely free market is an ignorant way to run somethign like vaccinations, as there is no need to improve vaccination technologies until theres a public health problem. Instead we should be focusing on developing GM technoliges to dramatically advance the rate of which we can produce immunizations. We only produce immunizations now when there is a percived problem, and like last year we had tons of flu vaccine rot away in labs after there was a scare we wouldn't have enough. Having a government incintive for vaccine producers to build advanced immunization labs would not only save them money in the long run, but it's essential for public health. Government has a duty to the welfare of its people. I don't think the government should have much moral authority to tell people who they can marry, sleep with, or what thy can smoke or shoot into their arms.
Government Perfect Government There has only been 1 nation with a “perfect” government in history, Israel with theocracy. Theocracy is a system of government in which God himself rules personally or through chosen representatives. Theocracy is no longer a form of government today as God no longer speaks directly to us nor does he use prophets. America, Constitutional Republic Now, here in America we have what is known as a republic. A republic is a government in which the people rule indirectly through elected representatives. So we have what is called a “Constitutional Republic”. America’s founding fathers firmly believed in the Biblical doctrine of man’s sin and wisely shunned democracy for that reason. Also, they had just won their independence from a tyrannical king and they also shied away from monarchy. They realized that political power is no safer in the hands of the people than it is in the hands of a single ruler. So they made a balance between the two, something with elements of autocracy and democracy… the result was a constitutional republic. Democracy What a democracy is, is when the people rule directly by a popular vote. Democracy is the most unstable form of government because of its tendency to go to “mob rule”, and ultimately tyranny. Its like an empty thrown… people ruling without a leader… the thrown will ALWAYS be filled with a dictator… in Germanys case, Hitler was the man among others before him. So, unless people are perfect… a democracy cannot work… and as Christians (and even non Christians know) people are not perfect, they are full of sin and wickedness. Alexander Tyler, a great historian who all of you have doubtlessly heard of and probably studied, says this about democracy: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy [taxing and spending] , always followed by a dictatorship. The average life of the world’s greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.” Athens is a good example of he is talking about. Athens was a democracy that lasted for 200 years and then turned into a tyranny (dictatorship) through the exact same process… note that America has been around for only slightly longer. Thank God were are not a democracy… it does make me nervous when the liberal left insists we are a democracy though, aren’t you? Dictatorships The favorite way of dictators to get into power, is through socialism. Socialism is not a form of government, but a system of government control over the economy of a nation. So, socialism is always where democracies will end up… you can have a socialistic state (nation) and it still be considered a democracy. We all know that the left is for BIG government and also wishes to be called a democracy… well big government within a democracy is socialism!!! The left of this nation are moving us ever toward socialism by doing things like making government programs and regulations that put more and more into the hands of the government, not the people. Socialism is not a form of government again… it is simply a small stepping stone from democracy to communism (really a dictatorship). Communist around the world know this and prey on it. Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev said , “ We cannot expect Americas to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have communism.”
