The thing to understand about government is that whether or not it is for us, it was made by us. It is not some awesome existence that should be responsible for saving us all. It is just an organization and system of organizations that we have built through our decisions over the centuries. Its a jumbled together construct of the decisions and actions of people trying to do the right thing from their perspective. Most of these people over the years however have not been brilliant people who were willing to admit when they made a mistake, and its a rather bloated construct.

It has gotten to the point that its no longer representative of the will of the people it serves. In this most recent election, we have almost half of people not have their voice heard for the other half. What the election basically said was that the will and the path nearly half of Americans would prefer, is irrelevant. A town of a hundred people going with majority rule is a lot different from a country of hundreds of millions from many walks of life and many different social and philosophical backgrounds, being subjected to that same kind of rule.

But before we think about changing or improving government, we need to start with the more basic fact: Government is just a human construct, and so it has the same kind of weaknesses as any other human endeavor. Before we look towards trying to fix that bloated monster, it might make sense to look closer to home to see what we can do to make things better close by.

People talk about revolutions, but revolutions break things. Throwing the good out with the bad and causing chaos. Like how we built government, we can also create something better to replace it. One step, one area and one issue at a time because that is the only way to do a good job. We just need to create momentum for positive change and be willing to learn from our mistakes. America became a great nation through the actions of many over time, and to be greater will also take the actions of many over time.

And now for the sudden twist: Lets look at Mormons.

Ignoring the religious aspect, lets look at the tithe system and what it does in the real world. What it is, is basically another 10% tax, but tax being used by an entity closer to home. Its no doubt wasteful also, but it adds something to what the government offers these people. An additional support net that helps make people’s lives better in various ways. Insurance companies, assuming people buy into them, offer a similar benefit, except that not everyone can afford them.

The thing that we often both do and don’t understand is that even a small amount of money and effort from a bunch of people can be used to create systems that help support them in ways that they care about. And in the long run that is what we need, to build new systems that work better to replace the services that the government offers.

If we have problems with our roads that bother us and we get together and get them fixed ourselves, we then have a right to ask that we not have to pay as much tax for those or that some tax money be given to our companies instead of some contractor who doesn’t care, because we are handling that governmental responsibility better – And we can say that after we have proven that we actually can do a better job. There are countless avenues of improvement that matter to us, better to just take action and get what we want than wait for someone else a thousand miles away to remember us and do something.

Whatever we want, this is the core of how it has to be done, we have to build the thousands of better systems that will make up a better government that better serves the needs of the people. Because that over bloated monster is too big to change in one go, but we can definitely change and improve things around us. Government was created by people and we can create better examples for the government to follow, and do it in ways that create positive change that matters to us – after all, that’s the only way to prove that we actually do know better. Ultimately, we have to be the ones who show government the way! 🙂