Why Governments Exist

"The mass-man does in fact believe that he is the State, and he will tend more and more to set its machinery working, on whatsoever pretext, to crush beneath it any creative minority which disturbs it - disturbs it in any order of things; in politics, in ideas, in industry." Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses, ch. XIII, 1930

Bob Schieffer, CBS, Oct. 4, 2006, wrote, "There is only one reason for government: to improve the lives of its citizens".

Mr. Schieffer,

Your one and only reason for government sounds like sophistry Marx and Lenin would use. If the government has the power to improve my life it also has the power to make it miserable. I was taught that it was up to me to improve my life. I was never taught that it was someone else's responsibility. Unfortunately, your message is an excuse for many people to blame others for failures and bad choices.

How do you define "government" that will improve my life? Is it my neighbors, friends, or family members who are supposed to improve my life? Or do you define government as government employees and private contractors and lobbyist, such as former Congressman Randy Cunningham?

How much is government supposed to "improve" my life? Some or a little? Is it like we measure the GDP, 1% per year, or much more? Is improving my life defined by making me happier, or providing me with a bigger house? Or is a government committee going to decide whose life needs improving and by how much?

I think you meant governments exist so "we" can improve our lives. However, too many people literally believe what you said. It would be political suicide for a candidate to run on a platform of personal responsibility. One rarely hears a political leader say it is up to the individual to "improve" their lives by learning how to make good choices. No. What we hear from politicians is the same cliché you give for the purpose of government. The politicians always use words like, "more government investment" and other nebulous terms which we are led to believe will indeed, improve our lives. This belief keeps millions of government employees employed, and with better retirement benefits than of those who pay them. The non producers are telling the producers what to do.

The government you speak of has become too huge to manage, even if it could "improve" our lives. It has become a leviathan on the oceans, a leviathan that cannot be steered or stopped, and we all are like barnacles that ride along clinging to Leviathan.

Charles Tolleson