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The Government Does not Own You |
We are not owned by the government. We are not subjects and government property. Government exists solely for the purpose of serving the people and for no other reason. Any government that thinks otherwise is out of bounds and is exceeding it's authority mandated by the people. The people are not given rights and liberties by the government. The people are humanity and we have intrinsic rights and liberties that we acquired through evolution. Nation States are artificial human constructs that are designed to serve and not to rule us. We are a free people and we own ourselves. We are not owned by nations or kingdoms.
People have a mistaken idea that they have a duty to serve their country but the opposite is true. The country has a duty to serve the people. When realists come together to fight as a nation in a just war, we do so because we serve the people who we share a nation with. We fight for the freedom of the people. Many nation states think that they own their people. They think that the young men are property and that the nation state can assert an ownership right and enslave them to become mercenaries to the nation's cause regardless of if the cause is just or not. A Realist is not subject to these assertions because our lives are our own. We may choose to serve a national cause but we cannot be compelled to do so. We serve only if the cause is a just cause and only by our own choice.
Governments are artificial human constructs that exist for the sole purpost of serving the people and for no other reason. The government is always subservient to the people.
Realists avoid the reciting of pledges to artificially constructed entities such as nation-states or religions, including and especially our own. To pledge to a nation-state is to give up your self ownership to an artificial entity that is supposed to exist to serve the public. We assert the dominance of our self ownership over government by refusing to participate in government lead self worship. Instead, those who serve the public should be encouraged to say a pledge to the people for whom they serve and to express hope that they will do a good job as a trusted servant of the public.
Governments that work right are a valuable resource to the people for whom they serve. Humanity has both individual and collective elements and it is the balance of the two that makes for an ideal society. Each entity must know and respect the place of the other. Personal freedom is reserved for the individual and should not be intruded upon unless there is a compelling state interest to do so. However, someone has to fill the pot holes and fix the roads that we all drive on and the right kind of government provides valuable resources to enhance the exploration of reality. So there is an important place for public education, social programs, law enforcement, taking care of the sick, the poor, and the elderly. There is value to public funding for the sciences for the purpose of the exploration of the universe that we live in.
Government crosses the line however when they limit out personal freedoms and abridge our right to control our lives. Examples of when the government crosses the line include:
- Laws that prohibit women from having the same rights and privileges as men.
- Laws that impose the values of one religion on another.
- Government that recognizes fictional deities, or expresses a preference for one form of religion over another, or establishes a state religion.
- Government that gets involved in leading prayer.
- Government that oppresses people because of their sexual orientation.
- Government that prohibits sex between consenting adults.
- Government that demonizes or discriminates against Atheists.
- Government that denies women birth control, or that denies them access to abortions, or in any other way forces them to bear children or not bear children against their will.
- Government that denies death with dignity services, or government that would pressure the dying to kill themselves to save money.
- Government that prohibits the legitimate and responsible use of mind altering substances for the purpose of obtaining religious insight and inspiring creative thinking.
- Government that prohibits the individual from obtaining and using substances to treat medical conditions where the individual sincerely believes that the use of the prohibited substance has a medical benefit.
- Government that puts itself or corporations ahead of the needs of the people.
We as Realists see good government as an extension of ourselves, so in owning ourselves we also own the governments that serve us. It is important for us not only to realize that, but to assert it whenever necessary. Government is like a small child who often gets out of place and exceeds it's boundaries. We have to make sure that we keep it disciplined so that it doesn't develop a habit of bad behavior and forget who is the master and who is the artificially constructed servant.
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