January 28, 2014 Fed up with the excesses and incompetency of government, I have endeavoured to express my sentiments in an essay patterned after the Declaration of Independence. The founding document of the world’s leading democracy, after all, eloquently expresses the essence of a government’s existence, and the conditions under which it ought to be dissolved or reformed without delay. Without any intent to divert attention away from the essay, I resolve to make this note, written exclusively as an “author’s note” of some sort, rather brief. The actual essay was written as follows: _________ When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for the individual to protest the invasion of his liberties, to deplore the government’s excesses and to seek the restoration of rights to which the laws of nature and of natures God entitle him, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, individuals owe it to themselves and to their countrymen to refuse allegiance to it, to firmly condemn its excesses, and to assert his right to demand its dissolution. When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the people under this government, and such is now the necessity which compels the individual to demand that his freedom from an inefficient government that subsists on his people’s taxes. While we go not as far as to desire outright revolution, the implications of which are as dangerous as those of government in excess, we call for genuine institutional reforms, as well as the restoration of the dignity of the poor, the guarantee of our liberties, and prudent taxation and spending. Let facts be presented to a candid world. It has, under the guise of progressive taxation, excessively taxed the middle class. It has deliberately ignored the fact that the power to tax involves the power to destroy, and in the process of burdening this sector of the populace with taxes of all sorts, diminished the social mobility of the same middle class. It has failed to tax the wealthy, and in the attempt to pay for its many inefficiencies, passes the burden on to those with less wealth. It has kept the poor in their unfortunate state by inculcating upon them a culture of entitlement. It has provided so-called benefits in piecemeal fashion to protect the political interests and electoral prospects of its officials. It has failed to give decent housing and sustainable livelihood that the poor may regain their dignity, and instead, holds the needy under hostage by subjecting social services to politics and the inefficiencies of the bureaucracy. It has never permitted the people to make use of their potentials to the optimum, even encouraging them tacitly to practice their skills and utilize their talents for the development of nations not their own. It has borrowed and taxed and spent imprudently, burdening future generations with debt. It has not paid sufficient heed to budget deficits and the growing debt. It has used the urban poor as pools of voters to exploit during electoral processes. It has ignored the very reason for migration to the City- the neglect of the agricultural sector, the lack of capital and employment in the provinces. It has denied its farmers just and equitable circumstances by distributing land to them and leaving them to their own devices simultaneously. It has not provided those who till the land with mechanisms with which they could provide the food on our plates without getting themselves buried in debt. It has denied its judiciary sufficient funding to dispense fair and speedy justice to the many who are held in custody for crimes for which they have been neither tried nor given competent legal counsel. It continues to pretend that it desires judicial reform, while doing little effort to rescue the judiciary from its sorry consignment as a mere instrument of the rich and the powerful. And when it did engage in an effort to “restore the dignity” of our courts, it employed dubious means to oust its chief magistrate, defeating altogether its presumed moral ascendancy. It has denied the right to trial by jury to those apprehended for petty crimes. It has attempted to infringe upon the right to privacy by wasting its time on censorships and surveillance of what we read and say, in the real as well as virtual world. It has imposed “morality” upon the viewing populace with its futile means of regulating media content. It has denied the people of its right to choose what to consume, as the mass media are in themselves products sold to the market. It has denied its youth the necessary skills to compete with a global, technological economy. It has failed to give them facilities for the exploration and use of their scientific and technological abilities. It has provided textbooks filled with inaccuracy and lacking in depth. It has denied its citizens the right to divorce by heeding the advice of its reactionary officials, who, in recent debates in the culture wars, presented themselves as minions receiving directives from heaven. It has maintained a police force that is neither well-trained nor well-behaved. It has not reprimanded many officials who shamelessly feed on the inefficiencies and irregularities of government. It has discouraged many talented youths from serving as teachers and barristers and doctors for the government by providing decent remuneration. It has allowed foreign corporations to make use of our resources without justly compensating the people. It has allowed the spurious growth of demand for energy by massive corporations without ascertaining that the people will be free from detriment of corporate practices. It has allowed demand and hence, the power rates to rise without immunizing the people from intolerable prices. It has endeavoured, in every way it could, to force its tentacles into every aspect of the individual’s life, seeking to exercise paternal authority, and this it unapologetically sought to exercise without having the required moral legitimacy and actual ability. It has done all this and more, while claiming to exist for the common good. It is not to be denied that government is necessary for the delivery of certain services- an effective but in no way abusive police, sufficient national and civil defense, quality basic education, labor force empowerment, speedy justice, reasonable laws, and social overhead. In return for the services of the government, the people are to comply with properly formulated and executed laws and pay reasonable rates of tax. When the government fails to deliver the services expected of it, and, even acts to the detriment of the society, the exploitation of its people, and the invasion of individual liberties, it is the inviolable right and freedom of every citizen to protest against the institution and its practices. It is the inviolable right of the people to demand that a government choose between comprehensive, sustainable reform and dissolution. It is the right of the people to revise or dissolve its social contract with the government whenever the latter intolerably errs in fulfilling its obligations. Government has become the social cancer, existing for its own sake at the expense of the people. It not only needs to be restored to benignity. Even further, it needs to become a productive instrument of the people’s desires and ambitions. Now, in view of all the offenses and blunders big government has committed, it is appealed that the call for a smaller, more efficient and more transparent government be heeded. I appeal that the Freedom of Information bill be amended, polished, and enacted without delay. I appeal that our entitlement system be reformed. I appeal that our resources be directed to enterprises and efforts that genuinely benefit the poor and restore their dignity and self-worth. I appeal that there be a restoration of our cherished freedoms, so jeopardized by censorship and surveillance. I appeal that the government live by the basic code that it be “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” If it could not effectively institute the necessary mechanisms and the execute the laws necessary for its proper operation, then by all means, it should leave our pay checks entire, dissolve itself, and allow us to institute a new constitution of laws, a new framework of government, and a smaller bureaucracy that will guarantee our basic rights and liberties, and allow us the freedom to pursue our individual and collective well-being.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 04:21:52 +0000
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