Charlie Meadows
Two Kinds of Government
by Charlie Meadows
Over the past several years I have been privileged to speak to a variety of groups of young folks. These opportunities have taken place in a variety of places throughout the State of Oklahoma. They have included home schoolers, Young Republicans, Teen Republicans, College Republicans, Teen Pact, Christian World View classes, private school students, church youth groups and the many young people who have attended our Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) meetings.
One of the things I almost always try to do is suggest to these young folks that there are only two kinds of government. All of the words or labels we use to describe a particular type of government, while they may be accurate, they are still only a variation or degree of these two kinds of government.
Here is my definition: government either protects your private property and respects your liberty, or government consumes your private property and abuses your liberty. Before I expand on this thought, first let me further define property and liberty.
Property is the summation of the hard assets we possess, our intellectual property and the financial resources we have. Therefore, when we work for an employer, or if we are in business for ourselves, we exchange our time for money which is a representation of private property. This is far more convenient than bartering needed goods for goods on hand. Biblically and rationally, we all know we must pay taxes. However, if we have a government that protects our property, it will be a government that only takes taxes for proper functions of government and no more!
The great question is: how to define the proper function of government versus what is not? This is a question that people who label themselves as conservatives are actually all over the place in their understanding. This is also a place of great ignorance for professing Christians. Although some may disagree, I believe the place to draw the line is quite simple. The line should be drawn at "social benefits." In other words, taxes or user fees are to be used to pay for a military, police, courts, prisons, fire protection, water, sewer, streets, roads, bridges and etc. All of these uses are proper functions of government.
However, when we begin to give tax dollars to PEOPLE or ORGANIZATIONS for needed uses, pleasures, or prosperity enhancement, then we are in the realm of social needs or benefits. The reason, this is simple, is because it becomes a moral issue when we cross the social benefits line. You see, government can't give one dollar to a person or entity, unless it first takes a dollar away from someone else. Of course, those dollars it takes away are the private property of someone else.
Therefore, all tax dollars taken from one and given to another for social benefits, is actually nothing more than socialistic re-distribution of wealth. If a person, as an individual, takes property from one person against their will and gives it to another, it is called theft or extortion. If government takes money through taxation which by the way is not voluntary to give to others for their social benefits, we call it all sorts of names, but in reality it is nothing more than legalized theft. To really understand this principle, I suggest reading The Law - The Classic Blueprint for a Just Society, by Frederic Bastiat. The book is on the Internet and can be read in a couple of hours.
When is comes to liberty, I would suggest the word does not represent the ability to freely do anything a person wants to do. I would suggest the word describes the freedom to do a wide variety of things within the bounds of morality. From a scriptural standpoint, when the Word informs us that Jesus came to set men free, it is not talking about using our freedom for an occasion of the flesh (sin), but rather the ability to be free from the bondage of sin and our fleshly desires. It is liberty for a lot of opportunities within the bounds of Biblical morality
We can only have true liberty and maximum opportunity if our lives are filled with an inner self discipline and a sense of respect for the liberty and property of others. When we, as individuals, begin to stray from that inner self discipline, we get a government that begins to grow and make laws to define, curb and punish unacceptable behavior.
It is for this reason that it is so important to teach respect toward other people, as well as respect for other people's private property. All of these lessons were found in the New England Primer the textbook used in the early years of our nation. However, the value system in our modern day government schools is the antheses of those early day values. Have you ever wondered why we have so many social problems in society today, when in reality we have almost every creature comfort and aid available for the vast majority of our citizens?
So I ask, what kind of government do we want? One that is based on the principles of God's Word with an inner discipline within the people, so individuals can keep a maximum amount of their private property and have responsible liberty? Or, do we want a more secular society, where every man is his own little god, with each person determining right and wrong in his own eyes? That kind of government will consume your private property and abuse your liberty, in an attempt to hold things together.
Charlie Meadows is the Chairman of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC).
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