Big Government – Bigger Problems

A recent global trend in government is to categorise any issue as so big, so challenging and so complex that only government can deal with it.

Consider for a moment the global financial crisis. The solution isn’t to let banks, who lent too much money to people who couldn’t hope to pay it back, just take their losses. No, that wouldn’t be fair. The government needs to spend money it doesn’t have to pay the bonuses of the failed bank executives.

Scared about global warming? Surely we all can’t be that scared because only around 10 per cent of us are paying the extra cost of using green energy. Hardly a strong endorsement by the people of ‘the greatest moral issue of our time’. But don’t let that get in the way of government mandating that we all have to use a minimum amount of renewable energy. After all, doesn’t government know best?

Perhaps you think our children are getting too fat and support the Australian Government’s war on obesity. Well, I ask you to think again.

This is precisely the type of thinking that leftist governments want you to think. They want you to transfer the traditional responsibilities of adulthood to the state so they can act on your behalf. The problem is that far too many people are letting them get away with it – to their personal detriment.

Take the aforementioned reference to obesity. When did it become okay for a parent to claim their children’s obesity is not a result of bad food and lack of exercise, and thus not their fault? Somehow, this basic parental role has become the responsibility of government.

More specifically, some pundits suggest that our growing girth is a result of impoverishment. Perhaps you share my surprise at this claim given we would be the first generation in history to become obese as a result of not having enough money for food.

As a nation, we have never been richer (okay – ignore the past 18 months). Nearly every home has at least one television, we have computers, iPods, mobile phones, designer clothes, money for junk food, virtually free health care, relatively low levels of unemployment… I could go on.

In short, we are a rich country and as our wealth has grown the more we seek to outsource personal responsibility. Rather than think critically of issues confronting our nation and our families, too many Australians seem content to simply go along with those who make the most noise.

This is a dangerous trend that is being used by government to take an increasingly interventionist role in what you do, how you live and the decisions you make.
The result of this devolution has been increasing levels of anti-social behaviour, decreasing educational standards, a decline in health and the breakdown of too many family relationships.

The challenge, of course, is how to redress this growing imbalance in public policy. It is only through more thoroughly engaging people in the potential negative impact of government on their lives that we can encourage them to add their voice to the growing chorus of those who are worried for our future.

As the old saying goes, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’. I hope the Australian people don’t let it get to that, although some say it may already be too late.