American self-government is truly unique. Many people mistakenly believe that our self-government is about us choosing our own leaders. This philosophy still places the power of government firmly with the state and makes our officials elected rulers rather than elected representatives. This philosophy is at the heart of political activism, both on the left and the right of the political spectrum. Political activism is not about political activity and necessary political discourse, but about making the will of subgroups of our nation into law.

The true nature of American self-government, however, places the source of man’s direction, regulation, control and restraint with the conscience and convictions of the individual.

In response to my article on Abraham Cherrix being forced to undergo unwanted medical treatment, TheMan made a very good point:

But on a broader perspective this is just more of American’s own doing. You live very much in a country of your design. If you don’t like what has happened maybe you should have listened to the many people like me who shouted as loud as we could about what was going to happen.

Too many people see this as a good thing. Personal choice = bad, big brother = good. I don’t mean big brother in the conspiracists’ notion either. Too many people have decided it is good to not be allowed personal responsibility. If they had to take responsibility for their decisions then they couldn’t sue, they couldn’t play victims.

Rulings like this, quotas enforced on air marshals, the No Child Left Behind Act and other actions by our governing officials which infringe upon our rights of life, liberty and property have come about due to the values and beliefs of private individuals, not global conspiracies to wrest control from an unwitting citizenry. It is our philosophy of government which ultimately determines the character and quality of our civil government.

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of American English includes four elements in the definition of government: direction, regulation, control and restraint. Government, therefore, is what directs, regulates, controls and restrains all the actions of man. Historically, this has been predominantly by the rule of force through monarchs, emperors, dictators and tribal chiefs. Notions of freedom and liberty are so rare in world history that most languages did not even have a word for them until contact with the West. Even then, the concept of liberty has its roots in slavery.

The self-government which developed and is recognized in the Republic is not simply a custom, in the units termed municipalities or States, of managing their local affairs, but a degree of freedom in the individual to engage in the various pursuits of life, unrecognized elsewhere at the period when the Republic was formed, and yet unknown where centralization prevails, whether he chooses to act by himself or in association for civil or religious purposes; and this self-government exists in union with the fulfilment of every obligation demanded by the nation. . . . It has been said by Guizot that, “when there scarcely remained traces of popular assemblies, the remembrance of them, of the right of freemen to deliberate and transact their business together, resided in the minds of men as a primitive tradition, and a thing which might come about again.” These assemblies reappeared, and old rights were again enjoyed, when the emigrants to the soil now the United States began to frame the laws under which they were to live. —Rise of the Republic of the United States by Richard Frothingham, 1890

Our government rests primarily on the individual with civil government designed to protect us from external threats and to preserve our rights. It is not the function of civil government to “do good.” That is our private responsibility. Until we as a people recognize this, we will continue to look to government as a solution to our problems. And as long as we view government as a solution, it will continue to grow in power and the liberty of the individual will necessarily decrease.