What government is for: Part 2
PERSONAL FREEDOM AND POWER 102:
Acquiring and Possessing Property
Indispensable for personal freedom is the liberty for each person to choose how to allocate and invest their time, labor and money, and to own the gains made by these investments.
George Mason codified the elements of freedom in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, “certain inherent rights, namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
What government is for
Part 2
What government is for, by the Washington Post recommends spending for national defense, a safety net for the poor, economic growth (rails, subways, etc.), progressive taxation for undefined welfare programs, and federal government control of food, medicine, clean air and waste.
In my previous post, I stated: The omnipotent and incompetent federal government has failed, and the Washington Post encourages continuing this erratic system of governance – welfare programs, altered entitlements, earmark projects (ports, subways, etc), and redistributing income.
Grudgingly, the Washington Post proposed cuts to National Public Broadcasting and the Institute for Peace.
Most telling is the Washington Post’s contempt for every citizen’s rightfully earned income and the opportunity to save and spend the fruits of their investment of time, intellect and labor:
It’s true that if Washington got the bigger, harder things right – controlling health-care costs and aiming entitlement programs at those who really need the help – there’d be enough left over for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. But as a matter of politics and fairness, some of the nice-to-haves are going to have to take a hit: There are worthy things that government is no longer going to be able to do.
The Washington Post and the DC elites’ presume Americans would not make correct decisions for themselves or their communities. Compare this dominating government knows best philosophy with Governor Daniels’ philosophy of freedom:
We place our trust in average people. We are confident in their ability to decide wisely for themselves, on the important matters of their lives.
Importantly, Indiana honors a worker’s right to retain and control the fruits of their labor, and increases a citizen’s control of government:
We believe it wrong ever to take a dollar from a free citizen without a very necessary public purpose, because each such taking diminishes the freedom to spend that dollar as its owner would prefer.
…So when we cut property taxes, to the lowest level in America, we left flexibility for localities to raise them, but only by securing the permission of their taxpayers, voting in referendum.
A freedom philosophy and governance system protects people and the fruits of their labor, which strengthens and encourages family and community participation. As George Mason wrote: “certain inherent rights, namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
