Home From INDIA just in time for the GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

 

-  That's me, sitting on the steps of the Training Center -
(Photo Credit to Bruce Obenin)

I just returned from India.

Upon my return, our legislators got into a tiff, played a game of political brinksmanship, manufactured a crisis and shut down the government. Even so, it’s really good to be home.

I don’t want to shock you, especially if this is your first time reading my blog, but I’m going to toss this out there for your consideration.

All countries aren’t ruled as we are. All nations aren’t governed like this nation. When you travel to another country you see the blessed uniqueness of the United States of America.    

I suppose all governments do essentially the same thing; they oversee the interactions, regulations and laws of those living under them. Beyond that, governments first serve the interests of either their governors or their governed.

Government matters.

My deep appreciation for government is inextricably tied to my consternation about it. My appreciation for governmental assistance is soaring. My concern about distended governmental infringement on unalienable individual rights is snowballing too.

The machinery by which the sovereign power in a state expresses its will and exercises its function is one thing; the willful intent of the office-holders and rulers may be something else.

Go ahead and ask the question: “Who is served by this government? Are the governors self-serving or do they serve the people?”

Laws don’t change as quickly as desires, so while it may not always be said of the masses, this can certainly be said of those with the ambition and ability to make the rules: “They most certainly do.” They make the rules and change them too.

It’s guaranteed that the budget shutdown won’t financially impact the politicians responsible for it. Members of Congress keep getting paid when the government shuts down. Their ongoing compensation is mandated by the Constitution.  

It may require time, treasure and blood, but governments eventually flex to accommodate the governors. It’s real people that write the laws, enact the laws and enforce the laws they wrote. Systems of governance ultimately, albeit imperfectly, reflect the values and desires of their imperfect authors.

When the governors are coupled with the governed, personal freedom and responsibility get linked-in too. But when those governing are uncoupled from the governed, they are free to govern without empathy and compassion for the masses. In that case, self-serving and detached governors are free to regulate others while enriching themselves. Although historically such a decision is highly unlikely, detached rulers can also choose to do the improbable and serve their people.

That’s one of the reasons our Founders believed it is important to ensure that nobody in government has so much power that they can be above the law. Accordingly, our Constitution established a separation of powers, instituting three co-equal branches of government to provide checks-and-balances to the rule of law.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

The problem, as James Madison observed in The Federalist Paper No.51, is that the law is ultimately “administered by men over men.” The rule of law cannot be uncoupled from the people who make up our governments and our society. Men and women make the laws in their legislative roles. They enforce the laws as police officers and interpret the law as judges.

The freedom of rulers to limit the freedoms of their people is astonishing, but in America, rulers can’t limit others’ freedoms without limiting their own. In America, the law effects both: the rulers and the people they rule, the governors and the governed. The rule of law functions because most of us agree that it is important to observe the law, even when police officers are not present to enforce it.

Life is better for us when those in authority execute the basic functions of government mentioned in our Constitution. Government’s role is:

• “To form a more perfect Union”
• “To establish Justice”
• “To insure domestic Tranquility”
• “To provide for the common defense”
• “To promote the general Welfare”
• “To secure the Blessings of Liberty.”

Life is harder when the powerful cast off godly restraint and serve themselves rather than the people they govern.  

Solomon said, “When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.” (Proverbs 29:2)

Having just returned from the other side of the world, I’ve renewed my commitment to pray for those responsible for running our government. I am all for more rejoicing and a lot less groaning.

I am praying that those responsible for the Government shutdown will have the faith, courage and grit, to fulfill their responsibilities and end it, so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet, with a proper sense of GOD and of our responsibility to HIM for what we do with our lives.

May GOD bless all those in authority over us. May GOD bless all those bearing the burden of responsibility and leadership.

1 Timothy 2:2 (PHILLIPS)  -   Here then is my charge: First, supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men: for kings and rulers in positions of responsibility, so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet, with a proper sense of God and of our responsibility to him for what we do with our lives.