September 28, 2010

Republicans believe in a less intrusive government…

If you believe in a less intrusive government, less bureaucratic ideas controlling your business and everyday life then come join the new Conservative Republican movement in Beaufort County. I remind all Republicans that we can correct the problems that exist today at the next election.

In order to address the need for a less intrusive government, we must first establish what government is. According to the dictionary, government, among other definitions, is “the administrative council or body; the executive power”. Our Declaration of Independence says “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. Government is a group of citizens that we, the governed, have given the authority, and the executive power, to administer the laws of the land.

The Federal government has acquired far greater powers than our Founding Fathers envisioned in the Constitution. Article X of our Constitution reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”. The framers of our Constitution were fearful of a federal government that was unresponsive to the needs of the people and more responsive to the wants of a powerful few. The more we are distanced from the government, the less they hear what we say. This is obvious today by the power elite insulated “inside the beltway” of Washington, DC. The preamble to the Constitution says in part its purpose is to “Establish Justice, Insure Domestic Tranquility, Provide for the Common Defense, Promote the General Welfare, and Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity”. Phrases like “promote the general welfare” have grown in meaning and scope as more and more bureaucrats look for new ways to increase their power and authority.

I believe that when Republicans advocate for a less intrusive government, we are talking about less Federal control over our everyday lives. However, there is a need for government, and the closer this executive power is to the people, the more they understand what its citizens want and demand.

Republicans believe that by reducing the size of government it will reduce the control of the Federal government on our everyday lives. The size of government is not measured by the number of employees it has. It’s measured by the number of laws, rules and regulations that are approved by a government intent on increasing its worthiness, expanding its importance, and one that is sure in its own mind that they know better than the “common people”. President Bill Clinton once proclaimed proudly that he has reduced the size of government! What he really did was reduce the number of people employed by the Federal government with military reductions.

I believe that today, the power and control of the federal government is one of the main differences between the Republican and Democratic leaders of our country. The leaders of the Democratic Party believe that “government” knows how to do just about everything better than the “people”. Their expertise ranges from telling us how to raise our children, spend our money, run our own businesses, and even plan our lives. The leaders of the Republican Party believe that the federal government must have minimal influence in what we do, and should never do for us what we are capable of doing for ourselves. Republican leaders believe that the power in our country is in its people. The people will excel when the government gets out of their way by reducing their taxes and giving them incentives, not entitlements, to succeed. Sadly, some of our Republican leaders are of the “beltway mentality” that allows them to forget the Conservative Republican Principles that the Republican Party is founded on.

Together we can “Re-invent Republican Principles”.

Larry Britt, February 9, 2009

Return to Previous Page