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From: tac@teldata.UUCP (Tom Condon)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: The actual functions of the U.S. government
Message-ID: <264@teldata.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 13-Mar-84 18:45:55 EST
Article-I.D.: teldata.264
Posted: Tue Mar 13 18:45:55 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Mar-84 19:48:40 EST
References: <253@wu1.UUCP>
Organization: Teltone Corp., Kirkland, WA
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I was not reading the news, and so missed the survey some months back.
I do have a definition of government which may be of interest.

A government is an organization invested by private individuals with
such rights as they possess and are willing to delegate for their mutual
protection and benefit.

Notice that the people who create the government cannot give to it any
authority or powers which they do not have!  This is a basic tenet of
pure democracy--that people can not give away what is not theirs.  Therefor
they cannot give to any government that they create any powers which are
not their's.

The purpose of a government is to do those things which it was created and
empowered to do.

I believe that it was Thomas Jefferson who said, "They govern best who govern
least!"  One of our early presidents (I think it was Washington but I am not
sure) vetoed EVERY law which congress passed.  When asked why he told the
legislators that they had not been empowered to perform the tasks that they
were taking onto themselves by writing that law.  One of the legislators
then stood up and said,"Mr. President, do you mean to tell me that the
constitution anticipated everything which needs to be done?"  The president
in question responded in the affirmative and continued with, "...and all
of the things you would like to do too."
 
It seems that the major problems which were facing the people at the time
were unemployment, spiraling inflation, possible war with an aggressive
foreign power (England) and a liberal distrust of governments.  The United
States Constitution was written to solve these problems.  It did a very
good job of it too.  It is a shame that we are not willing to put our
faith in such a tried and true document again.