The Government and Fire

My studies of history have led me to believe that fire is the perfect analogy for government.


We need fire. It warms our homes, cooks our food, even powers our cars (gas motors work by small explosions inside the engine, the force of which pushes the pistons which turns the cranks which turn the wheels). We can’t live without fire.


However,


That fire must be kept as small as possible and must be kept VERY controlled. You only start fire in places specially designed for it (fireplace, campfire ring, heater box on the furnace, burner on the stove, etc.) These places are very small and getting smaller. We used to need a fireplace the size of a small bathroom to heat a home. Today we heat a bigger house with a fire that is only 1’ x ½’.


You also don’t feed a fire all the fuel it wants, because, you know what? It will never get full! In fact, if you tried to give fire everything it wanted, it would destroy you.


Whenever possible, you use anything but fire to do what ever job you need done. For example, you could cut the wood to build a house with a fire, but a saw would do a much more accurate and less wasteful job of it.


We need government. Government is necessary to punish criminals, protect us from other countries, and for some basic safety regulations. I would add, also, to protect us from large companies that would otherwise become “governments” themselves. Without government, we have chaos and, eventually, tyranny.


However,


Government must be kept as small as possible and must be kept VERY controlled. You only use government in certain, limited situations. And as technology increases, I am not sure but our need for government lessons, just as our need for fire.


Government’s “fuel” is power. The more power we give it the bigger it grows. History tells us that there comes a point when government gets so big it becomes a wild fire (like we have in our mountains here every summer). It begins killing and destroying indiscriminately. I only have to say a few words to get you started seeing what I mean:



Hitler. Stalin. Pol Pot. Australian Aborigines. American Indians. Cambodia. Mau Se Tung. Boer War. Death March. Trail of Tears. The French Revolution.


And these examples are just from the last two hundred years.


History is full of many, many more examples of government run amuck.


Governments ALWAYS wants more power to “fix” things. It NEVER has enough. But when a government gets too much power, people begin to disappear, die and suffer. This applies to any government in the world.


Government should only be used for those things that truly can not be done any other way, even if we think government could do it better. Remember, it may be faster to cut a piece of wood with fire, but a saw won’t burn you.




There are those that say America is different.


It is and it isn’t.


Republics have existed before (We are NOT a democracy. We are a republic. Big difference.) Our government was based on the early Israelite nation, Athens, Rome, and the English parliament. What is unique about our government is that (when it was first set up) ALL laws applied to ALL citizens (Slaves were not considered citizens and the Civil War and following legislation righted that wrong.)


The original design of our government was that the president had to obey the same laws as the poorest bum on the street. This was unique in history, with the exception of Israel. In every other attempt at representative government the rules only applied to one group. Only the rich could vote, for example. We applied the laws to everyone (Yes, I know only land owning men could vote at first. Since land was free for the taking, though, that meant that any adult male could vote. This gave one vote per household instead of our very unfair one vote for some homes and four or five for others).


Simply put, our president did not have the right to yell “Off with their heads!” and have it obeyed. This is why America was different.


America is the same as any other country because its government is made up of fallible human beings. This means our government is just as susceptible to tyranny as any other in history has been. It is just as dangerous to have the fire in your furnace get out of control as it is for your campfire. Maybe more so.


Something that happened recently scares me. Our congress passed a law aimed at one group of people. Granted that group only consisted of about thirty people and those were the ones who had received bonuses. But it still scares me. This means our congress has reached the point that it has discovered it can openly and directly control the behavior of groups by its legislation.


Oh, they have actually been controlling us for years. Tax deductions for using solar power, for example, are manipulations. But until now they have at least attempted to veil their intentions to control in “politically correct” terms. I mean, for example, the “Fairness Doctrine” that was in effect during the Clinton administration and was attempted again recently is an attempt to silence the “enemy.” But they veil it in terms of “fairness” (It would only be a true “fairness” doctrine if it forced TV stations, newspapers and the biggest magazines in the country to give equal time to conservatives while it was forcing talk radio to give equal time to liberals.)


But this recent legislation disturbs me.


Actually the whole bailout is based on un-equal representation and bad economics, as well as un-American ideas, but that is a different post.


The fact is that this administration is actively labeling anyone who disagrees with them as terrorists, setting the stage for removal of our freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion.


This is the beginning of the wild fire.