My Political Views (a summary)
I would define myself as a conservative libertarian, though I probably do not completely understand what is meant by either of those two terms. It is essentially this: I believe strongly in upholding high moral values and rules of conduct AND I do not want to see government involved in our lives any more than is absolutely necessary - "That government governs best which governs least" - author unknown (Thoreau mentions this as a "motto". It is sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson.).
I believe that there are essentially three classes of people:
- 1. Those who have firm (strong) moral values and live by them for the most part.
- 2. Those who live for themselves and do what they please regardless of morals and implications.
- 3. Those in between - who have some moral values, but whose standards are somewhat fuzzy and dependent a lot on circumstance and society.
I also believe that at any one moment, a person could conceivably fall into any of these classes. In other words, people can change. I do not wish to brand any individual with a classification, just classify people in general. I also believe that group 3 is currently growing much larger at the expense of group 1. You can blame the media, movies, breakdown of the family, affluence, or whatever.
People in group 1 need little government. People in group 2 have no need for government (according to them). It is because of those in group 3 that we need laws governing behavior. I feel that these laws are necessary because there are those (mainly of group 3) that feel that "If it is not against the law, then it must be right, or at least not wrong." They depend on the government to decide what is acceptable and to set their minimum standard of behavior.
It is therefore necessary to have laws governing behavior. I believe that these laws should be as few as possible. I believe that there are too many laws (and Constitutional amendments) and regulations in existence, and these are living and growing by the sheer inertia of big government.
My basic opinions:
- People of this country (and world) need to somehow see and accept the value of having strong moral behavioral standards and strengthen their personal standards accordingly. This must be a voluntary effort, encouraged by the government, but not enforced.
- All existing laws need to be reviewed and many removed or rewritten. Any new laws must be enacted very carefully (sparingly) and must be as simple as possible. The entire network of laws needs to be simplified. Bureaucracy must be dismantled where it is not needed (the majority of it). The taxes required to support such a government would then be greatly reduced.
- Government should have the most power (as little as necessary) at the lowest level possible, where individual people can have an effect in its maintenance.
- Assistance of those in need should be a local concern, with the exception of catastrophic emergencies, and (again) be a mostly voluntary effort, encouraged by government. Another possible exception is the consideration of certain geographic areas that have a disproportionately greater need than others. Any federal interaction should be temporary and with the purpose of establishing a more permanent solution - with the cooperation of the local governments involved.
- Protection of the private individual (including property) is the responsibility of the local government and should be strengthened only in response to the failure of the statistical majority of the people to develop and adhere to personal standards of moral behavior. In other words, as the majority of the people become selfish and amoral, the laws concerning behavior need to be strengthened, at the detriment of personal freedoms. The people must have high personal moral standards (of their own free will) in order to enjoy personal freedoms.
"Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." - John Adams, 1798
Joseph F. Buchanan (last updated 11/2/98)