A Calm and Peaceful Purpose: A Government Goal Gone Awry

Now we come to an area of our civil compact in which the government is more often than not, not only ineffective in affecting this state; but given the contentious relationship between the Democrat and Republican parties ( and their various internal factions) is the major engine in the public’s many faceted dissatisfaction with every aspect of government.

We the people have proposed that the government should ‘insure domestic Tranquility’. They are thus tasked with organizing our social structure, systems and endeavors under the guiding principle of a calm and peaceful society. We might also surmise that the Founding Fathers also intended that the government would function in a reasoned and rational manner and not one prone to emotional, confused or agitated actions that disrupt civic equanimity or incite public discord and strife. This is not an unusual or particularly singular American desire. It is commonly shared by most societies. What people do not want to live in peace; where they can raise their families, conduct their business and personal affairs, and live with their lives without threat from neighbors, officials or society?

Regardless of the failures and ineptness of our political leaders and their advisors, our government is still to be held honor-bound to strive toward delivering a tranquil society. This includes the enactment of laws that conform to such a state, to providing law enforcement agencies that protect the public peace and that monitor civil activities accordingly, to establish judicial systems to apply justice based on our laws, and to undertake programs and policies which enhance harmonious social conditions.

This governmental purpose is mostly forgotten or ignored by our political parties and the politicians. What we see is politicians who strive to find divisive wedge-issues and provincial special-interests to leverage partisan and parochial advantages to support their campaigns rather than to serve the people. They renege on their pledge to place the public interest before their own and to be as concerned for the future as well as the present. Is it any wonder that politicians act without reason or judgment? This purpose of our government is no longer considered good politics. Politicians can thus toss social tranquility aside as an expediency to accomplishing their own goals and purposes, instead of the public’s.

Still this does not absolve the government of its responsibility, or the public of its, to advance society toward a pattern of behaviors, laws and organizations that evolve even if in fits and spurts toward a peaceful social existence. Perhaps if the public had a greater expectation or insistence for politicians who were more capable of reasoned and rational approaches to governmental policies, the public would benefit from the wisdom embedded in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers; rather than the greed and corruption that our politicos have rendered us to date.