Dear
Editor,
I would like to share
some thoughts about our future from my observations after attending 6 years of
meetings of the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.
There seems to be two
opposed approaches to solving perceived problems of providing for the basic
wants and needs of the people.
The
first, and most
prevalent, is the group or collective viewpoint. Expanding the size and
cost of
government is very important to expanding the collective process. Some
refer to
this as transformation; others use the term socialism. The
implementation
method is regulatory law and the police power of government. People are
encouraged to depend upon government which tends to create a breakdown
of individual and group responsibility.
The state of California
is requiring local governments to form controls for land use and human activity
based on a General Plan. The important distinction is that the plan is
not just to control government owned property such as roads etc, but to control
human activity on private land.
The second approach
does recognize the three basic rights of life, liberty and property as
specified in the US Constitution and in the California Constitution.
This approach holds
that the people are responsible for their own wants and needs, in cooperation
with others. This is referred to as a
free society and some suggest this is why America has been so prosperous. Free
people tend to be industrious and create wealth. This freedom approach is based on
common law.
In my opinion, as we
move ahead toward a better tomorrow, we need to encourage more voluntary
solutions to our problems and ask our elected leaders to refrain from expanding
government.
