Experiment

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

I studied Government as a Pre-Law student.  The classes were full of poseurs and weasels which is too bad, because it’s actually a worthwhile subject:  what is the purpose of government, what should it do, what should it avoid doing?

 Rosseau thought mankind was basically good but was corrupted by the shackles of government and religion.  Free us from the shackles and everyone would be happy and peaceful. He wanted people to form a social contract to choose their own laws in an elected aristocracy, like the city-states of ancient Greece or maybe Venice.

 Hobbes thought mankind was totally self-interested which made them rotten to each other and only tamed by the shackles of government and religion.  Free us from those shackles and life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.  He wanted a strong, moral government with a religious basis, like English monarchy.

 Mill thought government power should be limited to preventing harm to others.  He wanted strictly a limited government doing nothing but keep the peace, a utilitarian government without any moral or religious basis for its laws.

 Locke thought people had natural rights given by God which government ought to protect.  He wanted morally-neutral limited government with broad religious toleration.  That’s the closest to the Founders’ view, which was lost at least a century ago.

 How to know which is right?  Divide society into experimental sections and say “In Utah, there will be vigorous religious-based law enforcement, in Baltimore, there will be value-neutral weak law enforcement” and wait to see which prevails?  The result would be devastating to people trapped in the failed experiment areas.

 A society can’t perform social experiments on itself and survive.  Can we? 

 Joe Doakes

What, is it rhetorical question week?

8 thoughts on “Experiment

  1. There is only one thing that can save our Democracy, and I’m not kidding.
    Our framers restricted the franchise to men of property; they were, as usual prescient.

    Property is fluid these days, ownership is often hard to pin down, but there is a 100% reliable measure available to us. The franchise must be restricted to contributing members of society. Before you receive a ballot, you must show a tax return proving you paid in a net positive income tax to the state in which you intend to vote. For states with no income tax, a federal return meeting the same criteria would suffice.

    According to the left, corporate fat cats pay no tax, so they should be happy.

  2. The left’s counter argument, of course, is if those who pay more taxes should have more vote?

  3. A society can’t perform social experiments on itself and survive. Can we?

    JD, I thought that is what Federalism was all about. 50 little incubators. Some chicks die, some thrive.

  4. The left’s counter argument, of course, is if those who pay more taxes should have more vote?

    One man, One Woman; one vote. Indeterminate need not apply

  5. What is the purpose of the United States federal government? The preamble to the constitution:

    We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

    If more people voting serves these purposes, great. If not, then restrict the franchise. We already do that — non citizens, people who are judged incompetent, and children are not permitted to vote.
    The people who are interested in expanding the franchise are not interested in better government or more representative government, they are interested in power. They want to impose their will and their choices on others. That is all they care about.
    The branch of the federal government that is most responsive to the popular will is the legislative branch. The most democratic part of the legislative branch is the house of representatives.
    Most liberals hold the House in contempt — when they don’t control it. Ditto the senate and the presidency. The love the judiciary because federal judges are not elected. The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), created by liberal congressmen Dodd & Frank, and uber-liberal Elizabeth Warren, micromanages every aspect of the banking, including consumer loans. It was specifically designed to be liberal and to be immune from small-d democratic influence. It is not funded by congress. Its rules have the force of law.
    Don’t let liberals assume the high ground by granting that they want more people to vote or a more responsive government.

  6. JPA – yes, that was the idea, in 1787, but it died in 1865, and the fragments stomped in The Great Society, then by the activist Supreme Court inventing nationwide constitutional rights to abortion and homosexual marriage.

  7. Rousseau believed that man was basically good as he abandoned his own children to an orphanage that generally ended up killing kids. It just boggles the mind. He saw an example of total depravity every time he shaved!

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