Far too many Americans have come to the conclusion that only the federal government can solve problems.
The Democrats all believe it.
Lots of Republican politicians accept it.
For the news media, it's an article of faith.
But America was founded on the notion that powerful central governments represent the gravest threat to individual liberty, state sovereignty and self-government.
That should be reason enough for any American who claims to support the Constitution and its severe restrictions on the powers of the federal government to question everything Washington does.
Yet, there's another reason to do so. Most every problem Washington attempts to solve only gets worse. Here are some examples:
- Washington told us health-care costs were too high and medical care unavailable to too many. The solution? Obamacare, which triggered skyrocketing health-care costs and increased scarcity of medical care. Had Americans merely asked themselves which provision of the Constitution authorizes federal intervention in medical care and health insurance issues, perhaps this debacle could have been averted. More expense, more hassle, less privacy, less liberty.
- After 9/11, the federal government sought to prevent future airline hijackings by creating a huge new costly bureaucracy and jobs program called the Department of Homeland Security, which turned every airline passenger into a suspect. Instead of arming cockpit crews and flight attendants, allowing, even encouraging military and police personnel to carry sidearms on planes and increasing the number of air marshals, the federal government chose the top-down, central command approach. Now every American who needs to travel is forced to give up his or her right to avoid warrantless search and seizure without probable cause. More expense, more hassle, more delays, less liberty.
- Last year, Barack Obama decided after a righteous police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, that it was time for the federal government to assert itself in local police matters, because local police departments couldn't be trusted to treat people fairly and equally. Yet, just a year earlier, in Washington, D.C., federal law enforcement agents of the Capitol Police and the Secret Service killed a young, innocent, black mother, Miriam Carey, who had her 13-month-old baby girl in tow, in several hails of gunfire, with at least 26 shots fired in three different locations over a period of seven minutes. Was there any accountability? No. In fact, the Justice Department continues to this day to cover up the details of the case, refusing to release videos, photos and most of the evidence including sworn statements by officers. No charges were brought against any of the federal officers. The media "watchdogs," obsessed with the Ferguson shooting, have given the feds a pass on this outrage.
I could go on and on with countless examples of how empowering the federal government over the marketplace, the individual, state governments and local governments results in dismal failure every single time it is tried.
Federal power is inherently less accountable to the people and to the laws of the land than is the marketplace, the individual, state governments and local governments. It's less efficient. It's more costly. It's more dangerous.
Yet, most Americans simply never question the ever-increasing power of Washington and the rising costs, more and more of which is passed on to the people in the form of debt approaching $20 trillion.
This is how we, as a nation, slouch toward tyranny. This is how liberty dies – one bad choice at a time with departments, agencies, programs and policies that are never evaluated on their success or failure.
Why? Because few in government are willing to admit total failure, change course, be accountable to the law of the land and decrease their own illegitimate power over the lives of the people.
In 2016, will any presidential candidates vow to return America to constitutional governance?
Will any presidential candidate enumerate departments, agencies and programs that need to be abolished for the good of the country?
Will any presidential candidates run against what has become a de facto policy of "unlimited government" in Washington?
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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