In the recent Hubbard County Republican commentary, statements are made that “We are not OK with citizens who think that improving life means telling others what they have to do with their own health” and that “Government was not created to provide people with health care, housing, jobs, etc.”
The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution states that “We the People of the United States, in Order
to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
Ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
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America.”
Don’t governmental organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the National
Institutes of Health, when they are trying to protect the public health in dealing with pandemics,
fit right into the clause of promoting the general welfare? Sure, they tell us how to protect our health and that of others, but isn’t that important? Could the free market be as effective in
managing pandemics, plus researching and developing vaccines without governmental help?
We benefit from governmental departments of transportation and police as well. Stopping at red
lights may interfere with my personal liberty to drive however I wish, but I know that obeying
traffic laws is good for my health and that of others.
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Government programs, like Medicare and Social Security, besides promoting the general
welfare, help the oldest citizens who are beyond their working years secure the blessings of
liberty.
Do we really want to return to a “free market economy,” as the Hubbard County GOP suggests
is preferable, and let older folks totally fend for themselves financially when it comes to health
care and housing?
Governmental programs like these are not the total answer, but they provide invaluable help. Sure, we pay taxes to support these programs, just like we pay taxes to support roads and schools, but is that really so bad? Or is it bad that the government supports programs like NASA, from which many of our technological advances come? We surely benefit from these programs.
I think these are proper functions of government and fit with the Preamble’s ideas.
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