Lorna Doone and the 2008 Election

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 3/18/2008 | Isaac Morehouse

[tang0r]

I’d like to think that America today is beyond the barbaric state of old monarchies. I’d like to think that it doesn’t matter a lick who the next leader is; that my life will not change a bit based on who’s in the oval office. But it does. The constitutional limits our founders placed on leaders have been ignored by the public in return for goodies and pork, which politicians gladly promise. We’ve allowed far too much responsibility for our lives to shift to government. We now look to them to save us from natural disasters, job change, discomfort, boredom, changes in the weather, even from ourselves and our own choices. We expect so much out of our next president that the stock market can shift dramatically in response to campaign news!

Granted, much of the fear over our next leader is exaggerated. Who controls the White House still doesn’t have that much effect on my life, but it certainly has more than the founders intended, and more than I’m comfortable with. The wrong candidate may not result in, "death by hanging", but enough control given to enough bad candidates can result in death by a thousand cuts...and taxes...and regulations...and other violations of liberty.