Does the government have too much power?


    All throughout 2020, government decisions have been questioned more and more as they gained more prevalence in the average American citizen's mind after the crisis, and people who weren't political or had no plans to be for this year's election are now suddenly taking stances and have a clear idea of what needs to be done to get through this. There have been bad calls by the United States about the COVID pandemic in particular and not dealing with it sooner, and this happened because the U.S. government had the power to say that it wasn't a big deal to the citizens.  This begs the question, should the government be given power over these types of decisions, or should the citizens handle the issues which will affect mainly citizens? 

    I was prompted to ask this from our class discussion on Thursday. In the discussion we had in class, we talked about the essay "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau, and some of the ideas that he presents in his piece. In this essay, Thoreau argues that a government with power is detrimental to citizens for multiple reasons, using specific cases to prove his point like detained peaceful activists, the militia in the United States, and his own personal anecdote. Thoreau says that it is better to have a government that cannot govern at all, because he thinks that governments only see people as "lumps of flesh" or "dogs." He believes that an individual's conscious actions, if they are considered just in that individual's eyes, are worth breaking the law over. In essence, this means that the citizen should have full power to do what is "just," and the corrupt governments will be reduced to a figurehead.

Thoreau uses pictures of convicted peaceful activists to show why America's government system is flawed.

    Personally, I don't think it is a problem concerning the government having too much/abusing their power. Thoreau's position is very radical and his ideal government borders anarchy by leaving only the people in charge of themselves. The term figurehead is usually meant to refer to government officials that don't have power, but are put into a position to appease to the people. An example would be George Washington, who was appointed as the 1st president for his contributions to the Revolutionary War, but most of his decisions were crafted by Jefferson or Hamilton. That government was still strong because even though Washington did not make many political decisions, he had the power of the U.S. government backing him. If the government as a whole were to become a figurehead government, there would be no one backing them to the extent that George Washington was backed by his government. Sure, there are allied foreign countries, but they are separate nations with their own affairs that cannot babysit another nation. Without the order of the government, we wouldn't even be able to have affairs in the first place, or even know the coronavirus existed in China. When you think about it from this perspective, government losing their power to the citizens would harm the country in this situation. Giving the citizens makes our country more independent and self-centered, which might be great for quality of life decisions for citizens on the local level, but when it comes to affairs between countries, we would lose the power that America has established with it's unique system and strong army. 

    I don't think the government needs to lose power, and I think that it is ultimately up to the citizen to decide how their government will be when they vote for the Senate, House of Reps, and of course, the President and Vice President. The crisis elevated the urge to vote for people who felt like the government right now is not fit to deal with the pandemic. And they should be, because this is the biggest impact that the individual can have on the nation, not rotting in a jail cell like Thoreau wants to be. Overall, I think we shouldn't discredit and disparage the government that has got us through multiple crises in the past, and instead focus on how to better it from its roots.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Comments

  1. Danny SamuelSeptember 28, 2020 at 5:20 AM

    I love the historical example you used of Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton. It really makes the whole argument make sense. Additionally, I think what you wrote at the end about all the government positions mattering is important. Often people only pay attention to who they want to vote for president, but the government is made up of many parts, and without people taking the election of all officials seriously, the government will be flawed.

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