We earlier described “soul” as being that part of our humanity that raises us up above the base nature of our inner brute. (See my post #1 of this series.) It’s that which enables us to think clearly, reason wisely and to value virtue. The brute is unthinking, without reason and morally bankrupt. How is the government complicit in this degradation?
The most pervasive means is by creating a dependency mindset of its citizens. Federal overreach (e.g., in education, health, welfare, law, housing) has overridden the decision-making power of local governance. This wholesale usurping of power has stripped the citizenry of much of its local electoral voice.
Dependency and its corollary of entitlement is a soul killer. Dependency creates an unnatural expectation of government which undermines the founding virtues of self-reliance and self-determination. The loss of these two virtues has created an invisible and pervasive crisis of identity and self-worth, dulling thoughtfulness and reasoning ability.
Additionally, government has taken the demented policy of curtailing criminal prosecutions. Evidence can be seen daily in the mobbish, gangish, clanish, thugish behavior rampaging nationwide… more often violent, senseless, and shameful.
The executive and the legislative branch of government primarily address the citizenry in tribes. It often legislates specifically for the perceived benefit of one tribe. (With political intent.) We would think that government largesse is a zero-sum game i.e., resources relegated to benefit one tribe demands reduction in resources available for other tribes. But since the government can print money, a zero-sum game doesn’t apply to federal spending. (Note the national debit and the oxymoron of budgeting a deficit.) The treasure of America is squandered on expenses that do not further the public good of the nation as a whole. Recent forgiveness of student debt screams political motivation. What does this signal to the younger generations of their duty of responsibility and accountability? It signals that “I have no duty to honor my promises…the government will take care of it.” The key word is “honor.”
Disunity is another soul crushing result of governmental actions (and non-actions.) Pitting one tribe against another feeds the flame of anger, intolerance, and prejudice. One vector of disunity is the government’s mantra of victim-ship and, thereby, creating the never-ending unrest and violence that is a descriptive of America. Among these divisive federal programs, Affirmative Action is the most easily identifiable (a form of reverse discrimination). Merit is no longer a primary qualification with Affirmative Action. Gradeless education and participatory awards do not inspire. Another vector is the vicious partisanship of our electoral system.
Federal overreach of authority and the purposeful creation of dependency and disunity are the federal weapons creating complacency and the dulling of the American mind and will. The soul is crippled if it cannot think clearly and decisively.
Soon after our Constitution was accepted by the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether the country had a republic or a monarchy. He answered, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Can we keep it?