By Edwin Cooney
Every day, in countless ways, millions of Americans express their contempt for the government of the United States — especially the federal government — George Washington's greatest gift to us! The fact of the matter is that our national government is our most valuable tool. Both its structure and prescribed functional procedures have flaws, but they do ultimately serve us pretty well! As much as millions of us insist we don't like it, we not only depend on it, we really count on its benevolent protection. Should we ever divorce it, we'll simultaneously divorce our own liberty.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”
The above preamble proscribes no procedures or functions of government. It merely establishes the purposes of government. Nor does this preamble draw distinctions between the federal government and the state governments; those are outlined in general throughout the body of the document.
What's at issue in 20th Century America isn't so much the purposes of liberty but whose primarily responsibility it is to apply “the blessings of liberty” to this free and independent people. Even more painful is whether or not all people are to continue to have equal participation in the election of both state and national leaders. Those of us who have had the freest and longest right to elect our own government have among us those who fear that we will soon become a minority rather than remaining a traditional majority in the operation and function of popular government. Sadly, that fear stems from our knowledge of how, historically, we treated Blacks even after the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the Constitution had set them free and asserted their equality.
Conservatives have argued that a government strong enough to give you what you want and even need is a government strong enough to take your liberties away. Liberals since FDR have argued that the essence of liberty is a government strong enough to maintain the legitimate interests of the people guided by those knowledgable enough and well informed enough to maintain its sovereign control over its government.
As I see it, both liberals and conservatives, no matter how comforting or discomforting it is, possess government as a legitimate tool to meet their political and social ends.
As we contemplate the welfare of our national government, we're inevitably beset by contradictory concepts broadcast and published by today's media. Conservatives chant “USA USA” even as they express distaste for our national governmental structure. Liberals express regret for our past sins and long for our adoption of the serene social governments of modern Europe. If, as asserted at the outset of this commentary, our national government is our "daddy," all natural daddies invariably learn that with all the advanced knowledge they hope to pass on to their children, those children possess the capacity for knowledge and opportunity that's even greater than their own!
Government may be our “daddy,” but we're the root of our daddy's conscience! Every daddy knows, even as he passes cigars to his friends at the birth of his child, that his child will grow away from his authority free and knowledgable enough to create his or her own future which will be greater than his could ever be.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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