Recognize the natural limits of what government can do

Talk of further federal gun control to “protect” us from Newtown, Conn.-like gun violence is grossly fraudulent and ignorant, stemming from a delusional idea of the capability of government.

Coercive law enforcement/regulation by government is actually consensual oppression — the historic bandage for variable human irrationality. It is irrationality that sabotages human ethics and intelligence, thereby condemning us to the wages of human imperfection. It is irrationality that is the midwife to abuse of liberty, otherwise known as crime. Thus, liberty practiced by imperfect human beings becomes the natural enemy of comfortable security. The ultimate in comfortable security is enslaved humanity treated as animals, which is also the ultimate in consensual oppression.

That’s why U.S. founders considered government a necessary evil, and that government governs best that governs least. That’s why U.S. founders used checks and balances so extensively in designing our government, because centralization of government power inevitably generates corruption (e.g. “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”).

As recognized by U.S. founders, civilization has advanced a partial remedy to abuses of liberty. It is individuals sincerely practicing religion or philosophy backed by government providing justice where abuse occurs. This is real justice, not propagandized revenge, retaliation or special interest agendas masquerading as restitution. Real justice uses the light of disseminated truth to cleanse false witness about reality from the perceptions of society. With that done, workable compensation or compensatory punishment is possible. Compensation of any sort, however, is humanity’s artificial device to make up for being unable to turn back time. We humans must understand that truly eradicating abuse of liberty or truly curing its consequences requires god-like power that human government will never have. Government is not, and never will be, synonymous with leadership.

Anyway, there’s hypocrisy at work in this outcry about violence. Our American culture and institutions currently glorify violence and the use of force. Just look at popular entertainment; the use of the force of money in politics; the caging and regimentation of Americans for “their own protection” using humanly imperfect, yet lethally armed, government personnel; our government’s use of war and targeted killing — wantonly based on chronically faulty intelligence; the hypocritical child killing by our government (called “collateral damage” by militarists) using humanity’s most sophisticated automatic weapon — the unmanned aerial drone; the use of blackmail and bribery — called foreign aid — by our government on foreign nations and their dissidents; and the use of law and government power to force people to submit to insurance, pharmaceutical and other economic monopolies for our so-called well-being. Thus, irrational people are encouraged by their own government and the society in which they live to use violence and force instead of communication and cooperation.

Consequently, to honestly combat violence, America and its institutions must start setting a better example. For instance:

1. For those who fail like the U.S. government at the commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” recall the Golden Rule — treat others as you would like others to treat you. Resenting and avoiding being held accountable for one’s acts is a supreme expression of hatred.

2. For those who fail like the U.S. government and mainline media at the commandment to “not bear false witness,” recall the adage “seek the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Living in deceit, dishonesty and self-deception is hell on earth.

3. For those who fail like the U.S. government and financial special interests at the commandment to not steal (i.e., to not give fair exchange of labor or value for what you get), recall the biblical adage “money is the root of all evil.” This is a practical statement of the monstrously selfish drive to get or have something for nothing.

4. For those who make excuses like the U.S. government for failing at the commandment to not kill (more workably translated as to “not murder”), recall the biblical statement “vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” Murder — actual self-defense is not murder — in civilian life or in war is the sacrilege of violently stealing God’s job of setting life spans for innocents. Incompetent and corrupt government coerces our military people into such sacrilege. Pity them.

5. Heeding ethics-driven conscience is God’s prescription against living in misery — individually, socially and as a nation. This holy gift is revealed by every religion and philosophy that has ever existed to serve mankind. Regrets from being persuaded to do otherwise leads to PTSD and suicide.

Meanwhile, Americans — individually and cooperatively — must practice effective and responsible defense against irrationality-driven evils. We must recognize the natural limits of what government can do for human beings and not just gullibly depend so much on the fraudulence called government “protection.”

Stuart Thompson lives in Wasilla.