You know, I seriously doubt I have the self-control to save for my retirement. Can everyone's taxes be raised a tiny bit so the government can save my money for me?
I've noticed many Americans would love to set some income aside for their kids' college education, but that's hard to remember when the new flat-screen TV comes out. If we raise taxes just a smidgeon, no one need stress about it.
Is there anyone who doesn't want to help the homeless? Yet not only are Americans insanely busy, but few have the time or know-how to truly invest enough to help even one impoverished person. Only $25 per average citizen - we'll take more from the wealthy - and we can employ people full-time and improve welfare.
This represents the origins of Social Security, federal college grants and the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program, and welfare.
Politicians speak of Social Security reform like prophets warding off a fiery apocalypse. I cannot recall a single positive statement about the government in hundreds of conversations with homeless people. And do I even need to appraise higher education?
I can't resist sharing a Facebook group I came across recently called, "Keep Your F-ing Hand Down in Lecture and Shut Up. No One Cares." This group has a hair under 200,000 members. The person whose profile I found it on is an elementary education major. When apathetic students are resorting to forced conversion, I think the situation is dire.
Of course, these three concerns Americans once handled privately have become serious problems.
Regardless of initial intentions, principles and history have proven that these programs were ill-advised from the start.
First, practically speaking, we are wasting a lot of resources on infrastructure that could go toward addressing the issues themselves.
Isn't there an obvious problem with paying the government money to save your money? How do those helpful savers at the Social Security offices across the country get paid?
By taking a good chunk of the money you're giving them to save, of course. The same diminishment harms the other two government solutions.
Far more egregious to me is what these forfeitures of responsibility have done, and continue to do, to the average American's character.
Simply put, we are lazy and selfish. The sentiment, "I must do something about this," has been all but entirely replaced by, "something must be done" or "the government should do something about that."
More than 150 years ago, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that America's democratic government might "spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living."
He went on to say that while monarchy might tyrannize its citizens and defy their will, democracy has the potential to stupefy and soften their will. With us, that has become the case.
Unlike monarchy, though, we do not need a political revolution. It is just a matter of living our own lives, reclaiming our responsibilities from our government - and when you're in class, raising your f-ing hand.
Gerald Liles is a history and religion senior. His column appears on Tuesdays.
