There are presently 2 million incarcerated in U.S. prisons. This is 1/4 of the entire world’s incarcerated. Most of the incarcerated in the U.S. are serving terms for crimes that are drug related. It is odd that laws prohibiting the use and sale of “illegal” drugs were enacted considering the utter failure of the prohibition of alcohol with the 18th amendment. Not only did the use of alcohol actually increase during prohibition, but crime related to the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol soured during this period.
Apparently our government can’t resist the urge to attempt the management of every aspect of the lives of the people. There is overwhelming evidence that in many (if not most) of these intrusions, the actions of government lead to injustice, inefficiency, waste and enormous cost when compared to actions of the private sector. Our president, many members of Congress and the liberal press actually believe that the prosperity our nation has enjoyed is due primarily to the actions of government. These people will never be convinced that our nation prospered and became the greatest in history in spite of (not because of) our increasingly oppressive government. The function of government, as it was designed by our founders, was to ensure freedom for the people so their dreams could be realized through their own creativity and diligence. Today, government has established so many rules and regulations our productivity is stifled and we are no longer the leader of the world in any area except military might and the number of people incarcerated.
I will argue that our federal government is doing the opposite of what it is charged to do by our Constitution. Instead of protecting the laws of our Constitution as the oath of office requires, our government is trying to dismantle our Constitution piece by piece. With every “act” enacted, every agency and department added and every executive order issued, the freedom of the people is diminished and the power of government expanded.
Bill Payne
Libby
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