I get more and more sick of our government when I learn of its abuses, especially those of so-called law enforcement. As I got older, I realized that The Law is not synonymous with Goodness and Virtue. And activites and things that are illegal are not necessarily unethical. Once you come to these conclusions you are forced to question the legitimacy of the authority that government wields. In our country, whose government was based upon the radical ideals of liberty and personal freedom, one is constrained from enjoying the full benefit of these ideals. The money that buys influence in government determines policy and little is done on the basis of ethics or virtues. It’s not as if you are even given the choice to be a citizen of the U.S. Government. If you are born here, you are subject to the laws, regardless of whether they’re right or not. Our government, at it’s core, is fundamentally coercive. I don’t have the right as a taxpayer and citizen to demand that my government not use my taxes to fund activities that I find repugnant, like warfare and capital punishment. I don’t have the freedom to decide what sorts of things I put in my body. Freedom of speech is similarly inhibited. It’s possible that every thing I say here could be monitored in some way if law enforcement decided it was in the interest of national security or some such ridiculousness. Throughout much of our century the FBI, as part of our own democratic government, compiled files about people whose patriotism and loyalty they questioned. Many of these are available now as a result of The Freedom of Information Act. People like Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, etc. All of this stuff can be extremely disheartening, but I do believe that one day there really will be true freedom and democracy and we will all have the opportunity to live in an ethical society. A society where people will be allowed to come to there own conclusions. Maybe it will be a little like Star Trek.
Here are some excellent quotes from our founding fathers on the issue of the separation of church and state as food for thought:
“The United States is in no sense founded upon the Christian doctrine.” — George Washington“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” — Thomas Jefferson
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.” — Thomas Paine
“I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma.” — Abraham Lincoln
(Quotes as listed in the books Salvation for Sale, by Gerard Thomas Straub, and The Real Frank Zappa, by the late, great Frank Zappa.)