March of the Lemmings

The present state of affairs regarding our government is growing more and more disturbing. I get almost physically sick every time I consider the amount of rights that are continually being taken away by other people in our government. I am afraid of our government and it should not be this way. And even more infuriating is the lack of care displayed by the masses, or even worse the knowledgeable complacency.

I cannot understand how it is possible for our constitution to be ignored or even as debated as it is. It is our constitution; it is what makes the United States of America what we are. Who needs the Second Amendment right, it’s surely outdated, nothing bad could ever happen to us or our country, we’re invincible just like all the other society’s that were destroyed when they thought so too, whether by their own government or someone else’s. Who needs to have a say in the schooling of our children, that’s what the government is for right? They can raise our children so we don’t have to. Our taxes are just fine aren’t they? And the government spends them appropriately of course. The United States government should be the Police of the world shouldn’t it? We should involve ourselves wherever our government wishes. And we should give command to the UN as we see fit right? Everything’s just fine.

The issue lies with our government trying to solve every issue that exists. And my question is where are they headed and why? What long-term goal are they trying to reach? We already have our constitution, we already have our right and wrongs, and we have enough laws. Why do they continually write more and more restrictive ones? Do they honestly believe that by deciding amongst themselves more and more laws to prosecute that they will be able to completely erase all wrongdoing in society, or all disagreeable circumstances from arising? How many books/movies have been written or produced regarding a future government that completely controls it’s society?

Our government has enrolled itself in the school of thought that wishes to preemptively stop wrong doings, something that is impossible. They seem to forget (or know all to well, depending on your camp) that instruments, tools, property, or anything inanimate is not where problems lie. Each problem is singular, and human. And everyone knows (or should) that it’s not the governments responsibility to raise and control it’s citizens. So it instead must turn it’s attentions to herding them as much as possible. Because in order to win another election, they must do whatever it takes to produce a result in an area that is already not their responsibility, but is deemed so by the millions of lazy people that don’t want the responsibility on their own. And so they must remove the possibility of badness before they can be blamed for it. However, to keep restricting human behavior for everyone day after day does not nourish a productive society. It causes people to have to turn on each other or wonder about their neighbor’s behavior that day, it causes already law-abiding citizens to have to “hide” from unconstitutional laws, it causes people to live in fear of not just criminals, but everyone else as well. Freedom is no more. Mistakes are not allowed and the people want/allow the government to take responsibility for the actions of every citizen it’s supposed to be serving. Life is to be programmed, and monitored. Decisions are no longer self-produced choices in a path towards a dream. Progression is harbored, and people don’t care. Another right is taken away, and people don’t flinch. It is the people who have turned over these rights and decisions; they have given them up because technology has made them lazy, and they don’t like responsibility anymore. They don’t want to worry about it, they instead wish for a “tough decision” free life that they can waltz through in a giant lemming march into the sea. If the loss of this right or choice right now means that something else might not have to be worried about later on, well then go for it, why bother to worry about whether this will lead to more rights/choices being lost in the future, if it means having to think or worry less, all that matters is the feeling now.

The sad thing is that even if this does bother you, there really isn’t anything that can ultimately be done. Why? Because not everyone believes in God or a higher authority, and that leaves EVERYTHING subjective. So we’re left to place trust in people only, and the only way to maintain order in a world of people that will always, always have a nature that includes evil doings, is to continuously try to preemptively remove all possible ways for an undesirable act to be committed, because that is the now self-proclaimed purpose of government, and it is their only choice if they want to keep their much loved power.

So where is this leading us? It’s leading us into a situation right out of “Demolition Man, The Giver, 1984, Gattaca, etc.” you get the idea. People just can’t be trusted with freedom, Hitler understood this, and decided that HE might as well be in charge of all the mindless peons then. Does it bother you? “Nah, I probably won’t see the full effects of this anyway, besides what could I do about it even if it did bother me?” Or “I’m in the government now, and I enjoy this power too much” so you’ll continue to live in complacency, that’s ok, you’ll eventually die just like everyone else, life’s just a continual experiment of choices right? You’ve wasted enough time reading anyway. You’re late for TV, video games, work, school, sleep, or even church (which I feel seems to worry an awful lot about saving the results of the society it exists in these days, instead of really working to help fix it), pass the responsibility to God, leave the worrying to someone else, and the choices to the government.

Though it is true that people cannot be truly trusted with freedom, it is nonetheless the only answer and imperative that they are anyway for no one has the right to decide otherwise anyway. All we can and should do is praise the good deeds, and punish the bad. Leave predicting behavior to God, or leave it out altogether if you don’t believe in God, either way, the idea to stop all bad from happening by adding millions of laws is not the answer, it is merely exerted control whether it is really necessary or not. It will be the inevitable death of the human spirit. Instead let everyone have an equal chance at life in this great country with all the rights and decision-making ability at the beginning, and take away individual rights and options on an individual basis.