All types/forms of government fall somewhere on a very simple government spectrum. At one end you have tyrrany (total government control) and on the other you have anarchy (no government control). In the middle of the spectrum you find a balance of control and freedom called self-government. But since anarchy always leads to tyrrany, it becomes even more simple as it boils down to two choices: govern yourself or be governed.  Either you be responsible for you or  the government is responsible for you. You can either be dependent on the government or on yourself.

It's funny how this seems so simple until you are actually living it out. I think most individuals would choose to be responsible for themselves initially until they start seeing what all that entails. The Israellites, when in bondage to the Egyptians, cried out to God to deliver them. God heard their prayers and raised up Moses to be their deliverer. Everyone is familiar with this part of the story and know the happy ending as the Israellites traversed through the middle of the sea towards freedom.  What a happy moment for them when the sea closed up behind them and they could finally breathe easy and enjoy the liberty they had just been handed. How many know the rest of this story though? The Israellites quickly realized that freedom takes hard work, character! It was not an easy road. Many began to clamor to go back to Egypt. They had become too dependant in character.

I wonder what we Americans would do if we were given back that total responsibility for ourselves. I think we don't even realize how dependant in character we, like the Israellites were, are.  There has been a recent movement of the American people crying out for smaller government; wanting to get back to the nation we began as.  "Let's get back to the Constitution" we cry! Have you ever thought about what that would really look like?  Our Founders believed that the sole purpose of civil government was to protect those who were obeying the law from those who were not. To protect the natural rights of every citizen; the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So if we want to get back to these basic roles, all of the social programs that you and I benefit from would be cut. What social programs am I referring to? Take a good long look at this enormous list (scroll down a bit to get to the beginning of the list)!  A little overwhelming when you see all of the social programs that we, the taxpayers, pay for, isn't it?

So what do you think?  Do you want to continue to hand all of this responsibilty for you over to our government or are you ready to cut out the middle man and take back those responsibilties for ourselves? Stay tuned for part 2 where we will consider the cost of being dependant on government and part 3 where we will discover the character it takes to live in liberty and to maintain that liberty.