What is the role of Government in today's America?

Personally, I am fascinated by C-SPAN’s coverage of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate whenever those legislative bodies are in session. I’ve spoken to a number of people about it and I find that I’m one of the very few who can watch the proceedings for any length of time without dying of boredom, turning off the television or screaming at both parties to get their acts together and do what is best for America and Americans. When I discuss the House and the Senate with my friends or others, the biggest complaints that I hear are that the proceedings have no meaning because nothing will get done while the cameras are on or that it’s impossible to know what they’re doing because the process is so arcane that you’d have to be a politician in order to figure out what they’re discussing in the first place. This is all before we go into the legalese that must be interpreted by the Supreme Court. 

I’ve thought on this information for some time. America elects 535 men and women of various races, religions and life experiences (in some cases) to discuss, debate and codify laws that you and I must live by. Some people feel these laws are overreach into the personal lives of Americans, stripping away the basic freedoms that our country is founded upon; others  feel that these laws don’t go nearly far as they should and that they do not address specific situations that arise over the years. Then you have the Supreme Court, a group of appointed officials tasked with interpreting the laws that Congress creates to make sure that they are Constitutional and can be (mostly) understood by the public.

Lastly you have the President of the United States who will sign or veto these laws and who has the ability to appoint judges to the Supreme.

The sheer number of laws desired by the residents of our fifty states, their legislatures and the like leads me to the question I pose today: What is the role of the government in the lives of the American people?

The Constitution seemingly implies that the Founders sought a limited government that only provided for the defense of its citizens, establish diplomatic relations with other nations and set down the rules for commerce between each state. Conservatives argue that the Constitution is working as intended and that the federal government has no ability or authority to force Americans to purchase products or engage in any behaviors that they deem illegal or immoral. They also argue that the Constitution should be interpreted strictly as written and that amendments are the only way to make changes. Amending the Constitution is very difficult but that was the Framers’ intent when creating it. Furthermore, each state is different and should be allowed the maximum ability to research, create and amend laws that work for that state without the federal government’s involvement. 

Liberals argue that the problems of today cannot be solved solely through the eyes of men who lived 200-plus years ago. They argue that the Constitution is a “living” document that must interpreted based on the times we live in and that to do anything less produces laws that have little or no bearing on the times we live in. States’ rights are not as important as protecting all of America’s citizens; what happens if a state passes a law or creates a program that injures its citizens? Should the federal government stay out of matters and hope that the problem corrects itself? What happens to the people who suffer in the meantime? These arguments are usually linked with education, immigration, civil rights, and health care, but apply in many others.

Federal, state and local governments can always be more efficient and responsive to the needs of its constituents but many of the situations I’ve named above blur the line as to who should be responsible for their implementation and upkeep.

Now I open the question to you, Readers:

What is the role of the Federal Government in American society?

The Fire Rises

I didn’t care about politics two years ago. Every politician I saw on television was interchangeable. I knew, like many people, that we vote every four years and that one-third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives were under the microscope for slights real or imagined against any number of interest groups. I was vaguely interested if only because of the sideshows that usually develop during Election Season:  Politician A says something foolish, Politician B gets caught up in a sex or ethics scandal and Politician C claims that America is on the way to theocracy/socialism/anarchy. Listen to CNN, FOX News, NPR or any other alphabet station and pretty soon your choices are A) go insane or B) stop caring.

When the Tea Party originally rose to prominence and started unseating moderate office holders across the nation in the 2010 midterm elections, people noticed that something was going on. As the Tea Party became a powerful force and ideologically pure voice, the idea that grassroots activism actually worked spread like wildfire. The Tea Party received both praise and criticism from the public and political spheres. At that point, I still considered it a form of backlash from having a black man elected as President of the United States and kept moving. I was raised in a moderate Democratic household and seeing a president that looked like me showed that it could be done and that many of the dreams and goals I had weren’t a waste of time and energy.

I wrote the Tea Party off, at first glance, as a group of angry old people that couldn’t get over the fact that America was changing(re: they lost)  and I didn’t look into them any further. I freely admit that it wasn’t the deepest thinking I’ve ever done but it was deep enough for me until one day in September of 2011. I was working as a Homeowner Concern Center Associate in Las Vegas as the first stirrings of the Occupy Wall Street movement started coming in. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them yet but the idea of starting a movement with like-minded people to engage in conversation about the issues of our day and solutions to solve them caught on to me. Before I could bring myself to agree with Occupy Wall Street, however, I had to know more about the group I’d written off.

As I looked into what the Tea Party’s indicated goals of smaller government, lower taxes and more individual freedoms, I couldn’t help thinking that I agreed with most of those ideas.  All of them sounded like worthy ideas. When I balanced that against the less-than-clear ideals of Occupy Wall Street, at the time, I couldn’t understand why more people didn’t agree with the Tea Party. I started talking to my friends, people I knew, and asking them for their thoughts on the matter. I didn’t realize it then, but the fire was lit and I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: shape public policy and governance while promoting rational discourse between people of different groups.

I jumped head-first into politics, reading more books on the subject in 2012 than I ever thought I would. I thought conservatism was the way to go and that it was the only thing that made any sense. I kept talking to people but I found myself running so far away from all of the things I used to believe in that everyone close to me noticed the change. I’ve spent the last year re-thinking and trying to understand my values through the lens of my upbringing, discussing ideas with others and trying to figure out how I can make a difference. Insanity isn’t an option and I think about these things too much to simply stop caring. Yes, America is in trouble but not in the way the pundits paint the picture. In fact, the pundits are a very big part of the problem.

Talk to the People is my third way, my choice C, and my way to help shape the dialogue in this country. Everything I’ve watched, learned and experienced over the past two years tells me that America has become so divided by partisanship, race, generation and social class that we’re looking at a split more alarming than one simply between Left and Right, but between Fantasy and Reality. The purpose of this blog is to start a discussion between people of all viewpoints and build consensus on the issues of our time that inspires others to step into the breach. I’m not naïve enough to believe that this will happen overnight or even in the first few months, but I’m resolving to put forth the effort and trust in my fellow Americans to come together and help us weave a new story that we can all tell our children and grandchildren in the future.

This is where I start. Let the conversation begin with my first question to you, The People:

Is America’s educational system failing our children? If so, how do we address this issue?