My basic philosophy is to start with the Declaration of Independence. Each of us should be free to generally be left alone and structure our own lives as we see fit. We should be free to speak our minds, gather, bear arms, worship our own concept of God and be able to acquire wealth through the fruits of our own labor.
Now, in a perfect world, that would be the end of it. Some people are incapable or unwilling to provide for themselves basic necessities. Others would interfere with my quiet enjoyment of life by murdering me, or stealing things that I have acquired. There are certain other things (like a highway system) that no one individual can do; it must be done with collective effort.
To solve the problems of an imperfect world, we establish a government. Okay, but whoa there, a government is the very thing that may put in jeopardy the novel (240 years ago) idea that we can do what we want. To have an entity in a free society that can force an individual to comply with directives is a dangerous threat to that freedom. A government that can tax people can interfere with their pursuit of happiness because they now have a lesser portion of their wealth to devote to that pursuit.
So, this government that we create should be very, very limited and only do things that most individuals in general cannot do for themselves, and is something bordering on necessary to effectuate the idea.
In order to keep this influence to a minimum, and if it will ever stay at a minimum, the people themselves must have a sense of morality to police themselves. Most of us were taught these basic things. Get up and go to work! Treat people kindly. Help your neighbors. Save your money. Don’t buy those toys you don’t need. Don’t drink excessively and use drugs. Don’t have pre-marital sex! Marry a nice girl! Divorce is wrong. Love your children. Stay in school. Go to bed at a decent time. Don’t smoke cigarettes, those things will kill you.
Those are all ideals. We don’t always follow them. But anytime there is an issue, go back to them. If you are too hungover to go to work, then stop drinking so damned much. Don’t ask for others who went to bed and got eight hours of sleep to pay for you.
So what do we look for in this new government?
First, then, we have a police power and outlaw certain things: no murdering, raping, stealing, and the like: things we can all agree on.
Next, we have to solve the problem of people who are unable or unwilling to provide for themselves. In many ways, this helps solve the first problem. Keeping first principles in mind, we must be mindful that any assistance will come at the expense of others in their pursuit of happiness. We need to recognize the obvious moral hazard that handing a man a loaf of bread saps his incentive to go out and work for that same loaf if he will be handed it anyways.
In order to stop this from happening, what about voluntary contributions to churches and charities? We did it this way from the dawn of civilization until the 1930s and moreso in the 1960s. These programs have created an underclass of people who have a sense of entitlement, are granted access to things, free of charge, that were once considered luxuries. Many of these people live better than those who are paying the taxes to provide these things. We have a new generation of people who see nothing wrong with the taxpayers paying for a free four year college education.
We cannot be both free and dependent on government. Even from the payee side, government will condition acceptance of benefits on certain restrictions of your freedom.
Further, we cannot remain free from dependence on government if we discard the basic moral values that we have learned for centuries, casting them aside as outdated relics. If we do those things, we will be harmed, not be as productive as we can, not happy, and in need of that assistance from government.
In order to remain free, we must remain committed to these moral principles. The government solution to the poverty problem has been an abject failure in all respects. The poverty problem has increased dramatically, and trillions have been spent on programs to simply justify their own existence and create a culture of dependence, and not one of freedom.
So that is where I start from in analyzing almost any issue.
In addition to that philosophy, government social services cannot work because the issues facing any person in need of assistance is unique. Maybe this person is physically and/or intellectually incapable of ever supporting himself and must be provided for life. Maybe the next person is so far in debt that he needs to file for bankruptcy and take a budgeting course. Maybe the third person needs a swift kick in the ass to get him motivated or visit the doctor for untreated depression.
