A Very Simple Question

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I've been thinking about a very simple question (again)...

When the chips are down, who do you trust?

This country was founded on the principles of religious freedom, private property, a democratic and free society.

And yet...

In times of crisis we turn to the government to "bail" us out. Every time there is a crisis in this country, we now instinctively turn to the government to rescue us. Does a larger, more powerful federal government represent the principles of the founding fathers? I think not.

For the sake of preventing bad things from happening, we sacrifice the principles on which this country was founded. We sacrifice the democratic process and freedoms in society "for the greater good."

Do we believe in our founding principles or not?

If they are such great principles, shouldn't they be depended on in bad times as well as good? Or are they only worth believing on when things are going well? Those principles that this country was founded upon were a reaction to the results of the very things we are now turning to. There was religious persecution, so we wanted freedom of religion. The king was the law of the land, so we wanted a land ruled by ordinary citizens. There were serfdoms and multitudes in servitude, so we wanted a free land. All these things are good.

But now, we are restraining religion more all the time. We are actually contemplating in our current financial situation to hand the responsibility of "securing the economic security" of our country to one man - the treasury secretary. We are taking the power away from the everyday person and giving more of it to the federal government.

Are we so ignorant to think that we will forever be safe from the abuses that are so clearly on display? Do we really think that government will ever shrink from what it's already taken? Do we think that the abject manipulation of every system in this country will not consolidate power to the point of someday being able to re-organize the very structures of this country?

I, for one, do not want to place my trust in the federal government to take care of us to that extent - government led by corrupt individuals is fundamentally untrustworty.