Who Has the Power?

"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." Most people are familiar with the first part of this quotation. I'd wager that much fewer are familiar with latter portion. Government exists to preserve our natural state of being. Simply, a government ensures we are born free to pursue happiness. How do you think our government is doing with that task? Are we all born? Are we all free? Are we hindered in our pursuit? It is a myth that America is a young country with a 230 year experiment in democracy. In fact, when the Declaration of Independence was written, Americans already had 200 years of experience in democracy. The colonists were on their own. No kings came to America. Any governors or magistrates in the colonies answered to the colonists first. Thomas Jefferson didn't just wake up one day and invent freedom. In fact, the Declaration of Independence is really a list of injuries and usurpations that violated 200 years of colonial freedom. Since then, our federal government has become much more of a tyrant than any king. Tocqueville forsaw this. No king ever made 2000 pages of regulations on importing produce. No king ever taxed people for making money. No king ever tried to ensure a life of leisure for his elderly subjects. No king ever dictated how we build our buildings or automobiles. No king ever regulated sugar content of ketchup. No king ever regulated how much water we are allowed to use in a toilet. No king ever strived to make the entire planet cooler. As one observes the current Presidential election, the issues at hand have little to do with the job of the President. Watching the news it would seem that the President's job is to pay my mortgage, fund my retirement, manage my economy, provide my health care, set the price of gas, set my wages, decide who can marry, study stem cells, and teach my kids just to name a few. These are not executive tasks. They are not federal tasks. Most are not governmental tasks at any level. Congress should make law, Presidents should enforce law, courts should interperate law. These powers were separated so no single branch got too much power. Unfortunately, all three branches have too much power so none of them seem to care. So we live in a modern democratic despotism where the federal government has embraced us in its powerful grasp, bending our will through petty rules and noble causes. How have we come to this? Where does the federal government get this power? The consent of the governed. The President has assumed control of our pocketbook because we gave it up. We don't want to make decisions and sacrifices ourselves, so we look to the government to make universal decisions and sacrifices. Why sacrifice my cell phones, cars, computers, televisions, or anything else so I can pay my bills and save for retirement? To keep our cheap little trinkets we have sacrificed things much more important: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.