Monday, December 31, 2012

Final 2012 Reflection on the State of Nation


The United States federal government is storming into another term of gridlock and grinding, halted leadership. On national media outlets, “Passers-by” and “Average Joes” in Main Street have complained about K Street and the Beltway. While whatever Wall Street wages should hang on their own heads, the concentrated majority of voters chose to send back to Washington the same divided government which the press, the political class, and the people vilified. The voters complain about the current state of dysfunction, yet they sent it back to govern once again.

The problem is not government. The Congress, President, and Judiciary are manifesting the same stop-gap, stalling checks and balances which the Framers intended. The problem is “us”, in that voters want what they want from the state, but they do not like what the federal government wants, which is more of our money and freedom.

The United States of America (not a united federal government) is defined by E Pluribus unum¸ “out of many one”, not one government, but one people. The rancorous division Washington springs forth from two clashing visions of this country’s future: a divided electorate of givers and takers, or a united nation committed to individual liberty and private enterprise; a country where government is preeminent, or one where the citizen, endowed with natural rights, chooses his communities and values without impressing them on others.

Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kansas have chosen a vision which sees the citizen, not the state. California is choosing more government. What about you?

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