It's
time for government to go back to first principles. Government exists by
the consent of the governed. Government's purpose is to protect the life,
liberty and property of the governed. When John Locke explained these
ideas in 1687, they were new. When the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution were written, everybody knew them and both documents included
the principles. Today, both these ideas are either unknown or actively
ignored.
It seems
clear from the world wide frequency of government dysfunction, bankruptcy and collapse,
that government is trying to do too much.
The
first step in any analysis is problem identification. In a governmental
context that should mean consulting with the voters to see if they agree there
is a problem. It should not mean a slick presentation of an expensive
solution to a problem the voters don't think they have.
The
reason voters are angry is that they aren't being consulted while their taxes
are being wasted on boondoggles.
Original
article (subscription may be required):
No comments:
Post a Comment