Absolutely. This is why I am a Knight of Columbus, why I volunteer at a homeless shelter, why I do many things in my spare time to help those in need.
But I don’t believe the proper function of GOVERNMENT is to be more Christ-like. I believe the proper function of INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE is to be more Christ-like.
The “proper” role of government? Oh, dear. I fear friend Bricker has wandered into the wasteland of political theory, where great minds have become lost, their bones bleach in the sun, save for the occassional watering by a passing camel…
There is no “proper” role of government. We, the people, so on and so forth, can decide the proper role of government any way we bloody well please.
Sure. And as part of that decision-making process, I can post on a message board my ideas of what the proper role of government should be.
And just for the record, I’m sure you’re pleased at the way we, the people, have been making decisions lately on the proper role in government - right?
Oh, you mean that crushing landslide avalanche of a mandate? Pretty thin gruel, don’t you think?
I hope it is appropriate here for me to say that I believe the proper role of government should be to secure the property (and therefore the rights) of those who have freely given it consent to do so. Nothing less. Nothing more.
While thats spectacular and if individual people would do so we wouldn’t have any problems would we? Since we can’t rely on peoples good nature to solve America’s problems perhaps we ought to try something different.
I need to sort of hijack this to ask a couple of question.
What makes you think a government is needed to do this? A collective society can do this (and has done on several occasions before being overthrown by military force)
What property rights exactly? I would say okay on personal property but not land or the means of production. Land property and the ownership of the means of production would seem to me to create a hierchical system that must, by means of it’s nature, infringe on the rights of those lower in the hierarchy. Perhaps this discussion belongs in another forum however.