Limited Government?

Are we doomed?

I've started to believe that limited government is not possible (or at least likely) without virtuous people/citizens.  That is, government is there to protect people from lack of virtue, from others who are bad or act badly.  That's as far as government should go before it, too, runs the very real possibility of becoming tyrannical.

Yes, government is needed, as Thomas Hobbes noted, because without it, life in a state of nature is "nasty, brutish, and short."  Or as Madison noted, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary."  So, of course, there is a need for rules, for regulations--that is, government--so people can live together.

The key here is limited government.  More and more government strangles liberty.  Ultimately more and more government leads to dictatorship and totalitarian dictatorship.  (There is a difference--note Mussolini's Fascist Italy and Hitler's Nazi Germany.)  Our government, without question, is trending in that direction, although I know a lot of people would react with an "Oh, c'mon......"

But, consider my original premise, that limited government is not possible without virtuous people/citizens. Are we to the point where too many people are not virtuous, that more and more government (not less and less) is required because of this lack of virtue?  The Detroit Police Chief noted the "culture of crime" in Detroit (his term, not mine), the violence that is found in other cities, but not nearly at the continual frequency.  He noted that in other big cities (and he knows more about this than I do), there is an unwritten criminal code that kids and the elderly are off limits.  Yet, in Detroit there are no such restrictions on the young and old; they are fair game for scams, violence, and even murders.  Another speaker noted the number of abortions and divorces, hardly virtuous actions.  Of course, the list could go on and on......

But I wonder if many people, esp the younger generations, don't know virtue/virtuous behavior.  Have they really been taught what is right and wrong, the difference between them?  I don't think that's an idle question.  Who teaches them?  Who shows them?  Who models right behavior?

Look at our so-called "role models" or leaders, in business, in government, in sports, in entertainment, (Hey, sports figures and the Hollywood-types have become role models, no doubt.), and other areas.  How virtuous are they, at least many of them?  What sorts of behavior do they exhibit, model?  Politicians, celebrities, professional and major college athletes, business leaders--they are self-centered, corrupt, arrogant, etc.

How are the younger generations to learn virtue?  What do they see?  The most visible American, the most recent Presidents of the US, live by deception and deceit, even bold-faced lying.  Remember, one looked right at the American people and lied to us and was later disbarred as a lawyer for lying under oath.  Another is constantly lying, with the help of compliant party members and the enabling LameStream media.  Pick up a newspaper, any day, and try to go through it without some Hollywood-type or professional sports figure who has engaged in some despicable behavior.  The past 15 years are replete with examples of corporate-types who have cheated, lied, scammed, etc., with many other innocent people paying the price.

So, what behavior do we show the younger generations?  (I'm talking those who have grown up since the '60s and '70s.  Yes, rotten behavior was also found before then, but the advent of television and investigative journalism have changed the ground rules.)  Who is glorified (or at least gets the most headlines) but the basest members of society?

I know someone called me "An old fogey" a few weeks ago when I deplored all the television shows that have free sex, almost prime-time pornography, even of young people, incredible violence, especially fatal violence, and suggested these must contribute to teen-age pregnancies, to fatherless families, to the blatant disregard of life as evidenced by all the shootings, etc.  Maybe so, but is there another explanation for what is going on?