This is my summary of an article published in Imprimis.  You can read the original online.  (Yes, I am eating my words about long blog posts!)

This article contrasts two views of the American government, one which seeks to provide security by whatever means possible and one which strives to preserve the freedom which is set forth as an inalienable right in the Constitution.  The former view is articulated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, while the latter is President Ronald Reagan’s opinion of the proper function of the American government.  There is great difference in these two views.  Roosevelt presented a New Deal.  Reagan felt that the old deal, the one in the Constitution, was the right plan for our country.  The question posed by the author of the article is whether Roosevelt’s or Reagan’s American government is the right one today.

Roosevelt most clearly articulated his ideas of an administrative state in his Annual Message to Congress which was given as a fireside chat on 11 January 1944.  At the time of the address, the U.S. was engrossed in World War II.  When Roosevelt looked to the future he saw one goal the U.S. should pursue.  He summed up this goal in one word, namely “security.”  His definition of security for Americans went past physical protection.  It also reached into the more personal spheres of life.  He said of his goals for attaining security, “It means also economic security, social security, moral security.”

Despite the fact that this security is not a Constitutional right, Roosevelt felt that through the country’s growth, it had become right for the government to be responsible for providing its subjects with economic, social, and moral security.  Roosevelt proposed that having a job, a home, health care, and other things were American rights to be granted to citizens by the government.         

Roosevelt wanted equality for all men, an idea expressly proposed in the Constitution.  Roosevelt had turned the Founding Fathers’ idea of natural rights on its head, though.  The Founding Fathers believed that each man was given equal rights because they believed each man was created by God.  This belief did not mean the Founders expected all men to attain the same standard of living.  Though all men are created equal, some men are more motivated than others, more intelligent, or more skilled in an area of work.  This means that the outcome of a man’s life is not a right bestowed upon a man at his birth.  The writers of the Constitution knew that a government can only protect rights which naturally belong to all men; it cannot grant rights to men.           

By outlining entitlements for the American people which were not natural or Constitutional, Roosevelt devalued the Constitution and snatched true rights from the American people.  Rather than acknowledging that the first right expressed in the Constitution is the right to be the governing authority, Roosevelt subjected Americans to be under the government. With “We the people” being the group who formed the government, the Founding Fathers began the Constitution.  Roosevelt’s government began forming the American people, rather than the American people forming the government.           

It was this change that Ronald Reagan addressed in his Inaugural Address following his first election.  Reagan felt that the cost of the government proposing and ensuring rights beyond those natural rights stated in the Constitution was a loss of freedom.  Reagan spoke about the government’s role in the economy and expressed that when the government steps into the economy it is not only affecting and controlling the economy but the people, also.  Reagan, in a speech he gave in 1964, proposed that “those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course,” which he defined as “the ant heap of totalitarianism.”           

Reagan saw that the self-government proposed in the Constitution is the only way to obtain true freedom for Americans.  Freedom and rights are not to be given by the government, but protected by the government.  These were the ideals Reagan spent fifteen years fighting for.  Upon seeing that society had been turned away from the idea of self-government, Reagan refuted this opinion by saying, “If no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?”

Roosevelt supposed that the country and the American people had changed in the time since the writing of the Constitution, such that the Constitutional values were no longer enough.  Reagan knew that human nature has not changed since the Constitution was written and will not change in the future.  Therefore, those values expressed in the Constitution are the values for freedom even today.

After quitting my job and vowing to myself that I would not start looking for work, I found myself dwelling on my insufficient savings for college.  I have no intention to plunge myself into debt to get this degree.  I don’t want to worry about paying on a student loan for far longer than it would take me to spend the money.  And for another thing, that can be a deterrent for prospective husbands.  Just sayin’.

So I schemed up a way to put myself a little closer to my goal of paying cash for all of my tuition and books.  No one likes to feed the horse.  Angel is her name.  I call her “Babe” often, though.  That’s odd.  There’s a wee little barn mouse who makes himself known every once in a while.  He is only encountered near the horse feed.  Some have sworn off feeding the horse ever again after spotting the little guy.

I figure it’s not that bad, though.  He’s quite frightened when he hears me and runs away from me quickly.  Also, he probably likes cheese, which means we have something in common.  I offered to feed the horse, so that others wouldn’t have to continue quibbling over whose task it should be.  The bargain was that I would feed her until she gets “fattened up” enough so that we can sell her.  My condition was that I would get the cash we get from the sale and put it directly to my schooling.

It seemed like a good deal to me.  I even have my own pair of rubber boots now.  In the first picture I was still wearing the ones I found and stuck my foot in.  In the picture below I am wearing my own shoes.  My outfit is well matched enough to wear to Wal-Mart.  Don’t worry, y’all.  I didn’t.  But it’s a dandy of an ensemble, isn’t it?  In case you needed some humor, I’m offering it at my expense.  This is my horse feeding gear. 

Now that I think about it, I suppose these pictures could be a deterrent to prospective husbands, too!  Oh, well.  Any decent man ought to appreciate the lengths I go to in order to be frugal!  It’s not like I’d wear my rubber boots on a date.

As I write, the sun rises in an overcast sky, casting pale light on my surroundings.  The sun will continue to rise and shed light and warmth on me until it begins its descent into the west.  I can’t see the sun that’s covered by clouds, but I know it’s there because I can see everything else.  As I go about my day I will take the sun for granted simply because it’s always there.  It will guide me as I drive.  I’ll read and write by sunlight.  The sun reminds me of God’s faithfulness.

In another place the sun is rising over the ruins of a disaster.  As the temperature rises the stench of death spreads.  There’s a man trapped in the rubble who can’t see the sun, but he can feel the day growing warmer as each breath becomes more difficult to find.  The sun feels like an enemy to him.  It’s going to suffocate him if he doesn’t get out soon.  A woman pinned underneath what used to be a home wakes to see through a crack in the wooden prison bars that the sun has taken its place in the sky.  Last night as she drifted to sleep she had wished that she wouldn’t see the sun again.  She’s trapped under the destruction and would rather die than live another day in this dungeon. 

The relief workers sweat as the sun assaults their work.  They will clean wounds by the light of the sun.  The sunlight will help them find people who are trapped.  As they work, they will fight tears brought on by the sight of the damage and of death.  They will find the strength to smile at children and comfort weeping mothers.  The sun over Haiti is a reminder of God’s faithfulness.