“…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln
Why do we have a government? To protect the people! But from what? You will answer that possibly two ways depending on your political views: All agree that the government was formed to protect the people from foreign powers, which at the time was the great European powers of the day but more specifically for our independence revolution and creation the English empire who were exploiting their power in order to obtain raw resources and wealth from us. The English were not the only ones pursuing the new worlds wealth of resources but at the time was the real pain in our rears. So long story short through conflict resolution (to put it simply) we created the United States to protect our land, our people, and our belief system which is documented in our Bill of Rights, Constitution, and other confusing documents.
All Americans regardless of ideology agree the government is here to protect our lands and protect our beliefs (at least the idea though the content is always up for debate). So let’s think about the role of government as it applies to protecting its people. What about the people? It is our people through our efforts and accomplishments that make this nation what it is. We give this nation its character, culture, and identity needed to complete the total package. So is the government here to protect all people or just those of likeminded beliefs and backgrounds? What is the scope of that protection?
As the United States of America is a democratically elected republic, the government reports ultimately to the people. In working for the people, it should be responsible to serve its people, all of its people regardless of their economic status, diversity, or beliefs. At least that is the concept.
What we have today is a government that is run and manipulated by power, driven and motivated by economical gain (money). To sugar coat it by saying lobbyist, special interests, and businesses are to blame only punishes the ‘users’ or ‘customers’ of the problem. It is a system that breads on greed, re-election, and cronyism. To some degree every government has this problem with manipulation but the trend and balance over the last decade has slowly slipping more towards money interests versus serving the people. Everyone sees it, no one does anything about it.
Ask yourself “what is the motivation?”, “what is the bigger picture?”, and “who gains from this?”. Does this issue or change in question benefit the people or the interests with the most money?
You cannot make everyone happy and it is the businesses and interests in the world the keep the lights on but it is the interests of the people that should also ALWAYS be considered and prioritized first in the end. There is give and take, an ebenflow of changes to America but as of late the balance is shifting radically towards those in power and those with the money.
A country can be many things but is nothing without its people.