Rant #1: Only YOU Serve your best interests

I'm about to go off on a rant...

It is incredibly easy to criticise and stigmatize those in power, simply because they are in power.

We all do it to those we work for everyday by the water cooler. And surely, there are good reasons for holding authority in check in regard to accountability. There are abuses of power, and our very system of government is designed (or at least WAS designed) to protect the people from one branch going it's own way. But ever since the scandal of Watergate, and the brilliance of TV investigative reporting, people outside the "management circle" have come to believe they know what is the best course of action in nearly every government decision.

Joe Schmo in Michigan believes he has the answer to solve the social security "crisis", reduce the budget deficit, springboard the world's most complicated $13 trillion economy, and oh yeah, how to solve this war problem as well. You know, he'll tell exactly how it should be done, and by the time he has calmed down and taken another drink of his double short latte, you've begun to realize just how numb our nation has become to our own failure.


And this is the heart of my frustration: every time an American has a need, there is someone who promises they can fix it for them. And they fall for it! That good-hearted American believes in them and gives them their own birthright of independence to represent that need to the most inefficient corporation in the world, the Government. One by one, over scores of decades, we have pursued our right to success over preserving our right to freedom.

The American public is made of such diverse backgrounds and beliefs, and we expect the government to make a place for each of them. The problem with cetralized thought and governance is that it is impossible to be all things to all people. While the needs of some are being met by much needed government services, the currently dysfunctional system allows a disadvantaged family to rot in their dilapidated housing while their children learn more from their peers on the streets than in the classroom. Eventually those children will be unemployed, homeless and holding a gun in a store clerk's face. This of course is an extreme scenario, but one that many minority groups use to paint a reason the government should intervene and fix those problems. Give the family a new house, they say. Give them a car to get a new job that is gauranteed to them (no matter the merits). Give them free health care so they never miss a day of school, or a day of work. Good intention; bad function.

And that brings up another peave of mine... Where the heck is the church in all of this??!

The churches that have been charged by God to take care of the "homeless, alien and without inheritance" build more beautiful buildings with glass atriums and larger parking lots. There are a select few; my previous church in Portland, OR (http://www.hofcc.org) excercises their faith through taking care of those in need and helping people get jobs and learn new skills. (Including my own family) THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH OUGHT TO BE DOING!

Back to the government...

If everyone has such a quarrel with the government over how it runs things (and it pretty much runs everything), then take liberty back into your own hands. Instead of handing over authority to control our destiny in exchange for "security", keep it, use it, live and die by it. Give government the authority to protect you from foreign invaders, and build infrastructure; nothing else. Utilize the concept that you are your own and best representative serving your best interest. Do your best to make sure your children and grandchildren have a better launchpad than you did, instead of depending on a building full of men 2,000 miles away to do it for you.

You and only you serve your best interests.