I really messed this one up last time so I'm going to try again.?

Question

True or False The only legitimate role of government is to protect our rights to Life, Liberty, and Property?

Bert hasn't read his Declaration of Independence boys and girls. Either that or he doesn't believe it. I think what he doesn't understand is by right to life, liberty and property what is really meant is the right to defend them. That the government can't take them from us without due process of law and that we have the right to hire people like the Police (which should be a local government agency not federal) to protect those rights for us and yes crime prevention is in the police mandate.

commandercody70

Sorry commander but WRONG, I have read it again and again. Pursuit of happines (what ever that's supposed to mean) was added at the last minute up until that point it was going to be the ownership of property. BTW you never answered the question.

Answer 1

True: That is it in the proverbial nutshell.

Answer 2

True! And for the answerer above, the right to those things is not entitlement to those things. It is the purpose of government to protect those rights, not actually give us property or liberty. The rights were believed to be natural rights governing the relationship among people in an ordered society. In an anarchy, you would have no right to property because someone bigger and stronger (in today's terms more well armed) would simply come and take it. That would not promote an orderly society where commerce could flourish.

The growth of government began in the middle of the last century. The first highway bill was designated the national defense highway appropriations act because there was legitimate debate whether the feds could legitimately spend money building roads. Today we do not question the government taxing us for thousands of programs never envisioned by the founding fathers. I am not making a statement as to whether this is good or bad, I just think that people should realize where we were and where we are. It is difficult to have a genuine debate about what is legitimate for government to do and what is not if you do not grasp the basic concepts of the purpose of government.

It is extremely important to note that the above principles were believed to be natural law. Without invoking religious principles, the founding fathers simply said that, based on the history of the world and the greatest scholars ever, these are the principles which we believe make government and the people co-exist and which promote orderly commerce.

Answer 3

False. Some people attempt to make the case that only specific items are 'allowed' in the 'powers granted' language of the Constitution. Yet the Founders didn't leave the Constitution with just a laundry list of specific items. When you think about it, almost everything in life has something to do with Life, Liberty or Property. Section 8 of the Constitution certainly lays out some specific functions of the federal government, but doesn't say that those are the only functions. The reason here is that the 'government' isn't an alien force...the 'government' is the People. What we think of as the 'government' is just a bureaucracy that functions by 'powers granted' to it by the citizens of the United States. The 'goverment' isn't the master, it's the servant. Therefore, the Constitution is an 'affirmative' document. What isn't prohibited is allowed if properly voted on by the representatives of the People and if the laws passed do not conflict with the Constitution. A law that says no more Bushs' may be elected president may be a good thing, but it wouldn't pass Constitutional muster. (Or a Clinton if you must!) The ninth amendment makes it clear just whose government this is....The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. If the people want a given administration to do, as Lincoln stated, "...to do for the people what the people cannot do for themselves, etc......then we can, by constitutional means bring that about....complex...and simple.

Answer 4

I think you haven't read the Declaration. There's no mention of right to property there. The phrase is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

edi:
Sorry, I didn't know you were talking about the "Lost Declaration," I thought you were talking about the one presented to King George III by the founding fathers, who may have had it pointed out to them that the non-rich don't have a God given right to property, but should have the right to acquire some through legitimate means, or should otherwise be free to pursue some other avenues of self-fulfillment that don't involve acqisition of wealth.

To answer your question, as I recall from political science class, the role of government is to be perceived as legitimate by those being governed. The nature and function of any goverment, therefore, will be determined either by the desires of the governed, or by their acceptance of the authority of the government. Since the American revolution and the French revolution, most Western thought has leaned toward the government acting as an instrument of the peoples' will, as defined and proscribed by the Constitution.

Those who cry for less government should move to an isolated location, because the philosophical stance that there can be minimal government in a diverse nation of 300 million, is nothing less than an invitation to tyranny. Either the People will rule, or somebody else will.

Answer 5

Along with protecting our borders and citizens from foreign enemies, I'd say True.

We need less government, much less than we have now! We'll get more government if we elect a democrat into office!

To commandercody: The saying was originally suppose to be "Life, liberty and property", but it was changed to "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" because it sounded better. Look it up.

Answer 6

I'm not sure what you are getting at? You realize that protection of rights can take many forms, include many problems/solutions, be enforced by numerous laws and equally numerous interpretation of the laws. You see how this could get complicated.

Answer 7

False.

Any "Right to Life" you think you enjoy is an illusion. Can a man, drowning in the middle of the ocean, scream about his "Right to Life" and be miraculously saved? How about the kid strapped into his carseat and forgotten in a parking lot on a broiling summer day? What happened to HIS right to life? Can he invoke this "right" and be freed of the intense heat? Of course not.

"Liberty" is also not a right, it is a hard-fought-for and bloodily-won privilidge. Anyone who thinks they have a "Right" to Liberty without being willing to die for it is a hypocrite, but government has no real reason to want to keep its citizens at "liberty". If we're so "Free" (assuming you're an American), try to take a trip to Cuba (and keep in mind you could travel to Moscow even during the 60s, at least after the Cuban Missile Crisis- If Cuba was so bad that Americans couldn't go there, why wasn't the Soviet Union?).

You have absolutely NO right to "Property" and it sure ain't the government's job to GIVE you property. If you mean to safeguard YOUR property from theft or loss, they don't do that either; Police don't PREVENT crime, they investigate crime AFTER the fact. It isn't in the police dept's best interest to eradicate crime, that would put them out of a job. As far as loss goes, that's why you have insurance, again the government has nothing to do with that (except for the bribes being paid them with our premium checks).

Answer 8

True,

sorry for the short answer, but facts is facts.

Answer 9

Exactly. Their role is to protect you from me, me from you and us from the rest of the world. Nothing else. :)

Answer 10

True but they all have CRS. Peace