Where Responsibility Lies

As you can tell the two previous posts, my main argument is where responsibility lies. This is the issue that is being avoided. Democrats do not like the argument, and Republicans are too distracted or unknowledgeable to make this key issue the center of the discussion.

Responsibility in the United States does not ultimately lie in the hands of the government.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
--United States of America's Declaration of Independence (www.ushistory.org)

Responsibility and power ultimately lies in the hands of the citizens of the United States. Ultimately, we each as individuals have the responsibility for ourselves and for the country.

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.
--Constitution of the United State of America (www.ushistory.org)

Conservativism holds and believes that it is the responsibility of the federal government as the collective body of the United States to provide these services specifically identify to it in the Constitution (along with the amendments). Beyond these responsibilities enumerated in the Constitution, it is the individual's responsibility and duty to take care of individual, familiar, and community needs.

Individuals are first responsible for themselves, providing for their own needs and desires. They are then responsible to meet the needs of their family and dependents. If an individual is not able to meet these responsibilities it is next the responsibility of that individual's family to aide them. In the same situation, the neighbor should have a responsibility in the absence of family. The capable individual is responsible to help along with their neighbors for the need of their community.

This chain of responsibility must not and need not to include the federal government. They should be meet by local means, which may even include local and state government. This is the purpose of the federal-state governing system. Local public and private means are crucial.

But we have lost this concept. If there is a problem, people look straight to the federal government. If a parent does not properly raise their child, the solution is sought within the federal government instead of within the family or community. If unemployment rises and the economy is in decline, the solution is sought through federal government and macro regulation instead of local and micro intervention.

The best place to seek solutions is at the most local level. A solution in Texas may not be the best solution in Vermont. A solution in Los Angeles probably will not fix a problem in El Dorado, Arkansas. An issue of concern might not need the same fix for someone in the affluent part of town as the poorer part of town.

There is a place for the federal government, just as there is a place for state and local governments. But government is not by default the solution source. We should look within our own means as individuals and neighbors to find solutions. Examples of this can be found in churches and other religious institutions, non-profit organizations, corporate sponsorship, private enterprise, and entrepreneurship.

We as individuals are free to accomplish anything we choose for ourselves. Together we are the rulers and not the ones being ruled. Why would we want to give up this that the founding Fathers and original patriots fought? The federal government should defend our nation from foreign enemies, protect our individual rights and freedoms from domestic enemies, and to guarantee these unalienable rights and freedoms for the generations to come.

It is a weakness and a fault to rely on the federal government for anything else. It is a voluntary degradation of our society to forfeit our own individual authority provided by our Creator to a lower authority that is the federal government. The authority, rights, and freedoms are ours to be used for our own and our neighbors' best interest. If we return to this fundamental principle, our societal problems will diminish, individuals will be empowered, families will strengthen, and the condition of our communities become whole and united again.