The Proper Role of Government (Part 1)

Very timely post, thank you. I have written, to some degree, on this subject in my blog.

We seem to have a few parallel paths in common. Last year on Thanksgiving Day, at the tender age of 55, I was hospitalized with congestive heart failure. I had a pluralsyntesis to remove two litres of fluid from my chest. I now take Lasix twice a day and Lisinopril once a day, and the FAA has revoked my medical certificate grounding me from flying anymore. I was not at all ready to have heart trouble.

My birthdate is July 18. Sound familiar?

I lived in Cypress, CA.(northwest Orange County) from age 11 to high school graduation and enlisting in the Air Force in 1970. I lived so close to Los Alamitos Race Track I could hear which horse won the race.

I have played piano, mandolin, guitar, and bass guitar since age 7, and love hard rock.

I am a strict constitutionalist conservative and have great admiration for the LDS church and their commitment to family values. I am a Primitive Baptist.

Anyway, visit my blog if you can. It would be an honor for me.

Glenn Flowers

and I loved the Bastiat reference. Hope all is well with you and your family, haven't seen you around too much.

I think "Right and Wrong" belong at the policy level.

For example, if someone commits a crime they should be punished. The precise mechanisms leading to punishment are a matter for the state to legislate:

Arrest
Trial
Conviction (or Not guilty verdict)
Punishment

Now ...

- There may be social factors that exacerbate crime
- We should give criminals second chances
- Punishment should be proportionate

But protection of the public from criminal behaviour, and punishment for criminal offences are primary concerns.

It is amazing how many liberals don't understand this stuff, and assume that ALL crime is an inditement of society.

Which can only be true in the case of dictatorship, where laws have been made without the involvement or consent of the general populace.

My mother grew up in severe poverty, and the only crimes that she and her brothers committed were those of stealing food because they were hungry. Which is pure survival.

Nowadays, in the UK, a yob will stab you and film the episode on their VIDEO PHONE whilst liberals wring their hands and complain that the yob was DISADVANTAGED!

The proper role of government [Federal] is to enforce only the limited legislative powers made clear in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution. These enumerated powers are it, only certain powers powers were delegated or granted by the people. The rest were reserved to the states, or the people, never having been granted to any level of government. This point is brought home in the Tenth Amendment [the last of the bill of rights].