I believe that that struggle does not end with the creation of a
Constitution. The price of such liberty is eternal vigilance. In
other words, if you want the freedoms we fought for, you will have to
fight too. Not with bloodshed, perhaps, but certainly fight in the
political arena...and we need a streak of rebelliousness in the
American people.
We WANT to be antagonistic towards government, we want to dislike
taxation. Why shouldn't we? I earn my money, and want to keep as
much of it as I can. I entrust a tiny portion of it to you, the
government, to do certain things that I have directly empowered you to
do. And when you begin to spend them on things you find convenient or
useful, or worse, put some of that money into your pocket, then I
SHOULD stand up and say "wait a minute, you are spending MY money."
We only created a government so that you would spend a LITTLE of
it responsibly...I didn't give you an unlimited grant of power to do
what you think is best, I gave you specific grant of limited power,
with a small and highly tethered amount of my hard-earned wage, and I
demand that you use it respectfully. And if you don't, I'll throw you
out, and if you won't go I'll throw you out with a pitchfork, and if
you won't do that, I'll shoot you. I think that streak in American
history is what has made us successful....
The government can never lead us to enlightenment. The idea is
this - a certain number of things are so important that individuals
cannot accomplish them themselves, therefore they turn to government,
like clearly national defense....Government should also serve as a
referee to settle disputes this side of bloodshed.
But government decidedly should NOT do for any individual what he
is entirely capable of doing for himself. And if government does it,
the individual will eventually abdicate his responsibly and become
dependent upon government....But if I know you will only help me
insofar as I take charge of my life whenever I can, and help you
whenever you have an hour of need, now we're talking about the proper
use of government.
But the government I am praising is grass roots government -
cooperation in local communities, that eventually reaches higher and
higher...a 'commonwealth.'
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