How Much Government is Enough?

By Ron C. West - Former Texas Candidate for State Representative - District 91 -2002

Political Activist in North Richland Hills, Texas

People are beginning to notice that "government" is beginning to invade even their home lives. Laws are being passed at an ever-increasing rate by local, state and federal entities. Elected officials are further and further removed from the individual voters. The two major parties have sold the American people on voting only within the bounds of the "two party system" while they move closer and closer to each other on an ideological basis. Entire elections are being held without the discussion of a single issue relating to the office sought. And for the most part, most people don't seem to care.

The indifference of the public is being interpreted accurately by the elected politicians. More and more, they respond only to the big special interest groups that have the money they crave on a personal basis. Big business has more and more influence because of their power to "purchase" elected officials. Candidates who seek office and speak out on the existing abuses of political officials are quietly ignored by the two party system and by virtually all media. It is not popular to be a "dissident" in our polite society today.

The result is government - removed from the electorate - that is busily passing new laws and new taxes to take your property and your freedoms from you. They are not hiding what they are doing any more. In fact, at every level of government there is a flagrant disregard for the American public. City governments can create debt for future years without voter approval. They can raise fees, fines and taxes every year without submitting anything to voters. In many states, voters are denied the right to initiate legislation by ballot and/or to even recall corrupt politicians. At state levels, laws are being passed so quickly and in such numbers that the legislatures do not even have time to read all of them prior to passage - much less understand their ramifications. Most new legislation is written by bureaucrats and lawyers with much of it done for carefully hidden agendas. Special interest groups get their bills introduced and passed, often with no discussion and no understanding of the long term effects of such legislation.

The Federal Government - far removed from the local voter - gets most of the press regarding issues that a carefully managed press thinks we ought to be aware of. Often our press directs our attention away from any legislation they favor so that it gets passed with little or no fanfare. It is impossible for the voters to be aware of all the legislation passed by our federal government and certainly impossible for anyone to fully understand the "regulations" that have the effect of law because of publication in the Federal Register. Thousands upon thousands of new regulations are being passed each year by our various governmental bodies that effect us more and more each day.

While we do not live in a police state today, we must be getting closer to one everyday. Local police, armed with this massive code of unintelligible laws, can stop and detain you for any reason. They can search your home, car and possessions without a search warrant for "probable cause" which is wholly determined by their own understanding of our complex code of laws. Under federal legislation they can take your property for their own benefit if they can somehow tie it to any type of "drug" violation. (This is a result of our "war on drugs". I can only imagine the future results of our "war on terror".)

Like the frog gradually being boiled to death, the American public is gradually being "boiled to death". The cause is the same, disinterest and misunderstanding. As long as we accept that more government is better, our politicians will gradually increase the heat. By the time we realize our mistake - it may be too late for freedom.

Is there an alternative? I believe that there is still a small window of opportunity for us to take back control of our government. All elected officials are supposed to work for us. Bureaucrats should be our servants and not our masters. For any of this to be true, we must take on the responsibilities of an American citizen. We cannot afford apathy. We must become active in our government beginning first at a local level and then at the higher levels. If we demand freedom from oppressive governmental intervention in our lives, we may still be able to achieve it. If we wait too long before becoming involved, freedom may become a historical concept rather than a way of life.