Are we rationale, reasonable, and self-interested individuals?

Yes, this week's blog is going to be political. I learned something new in school this week that really hit me and made me think more about what I am doing to better this country. I am usually not interested or very good at government because there a lot of big words I don't use everyday and different ideas and so many things going on but I have learned over my life (especially living with my dad) that knowing and having an opinion is vital to keep this country going.

Along time ago, before we let Britian, there was a guy named Martin Luther- and no, not the "I had a dream Martin Luther. He came up with this idea called Classical Liberalism when he decided that we, as individuals, can govern ourselves. He decided we didn't need a royal family, a king, or someone else to do our bidding for us because we could do it ourselves. He noted that all people can be rational, we can be reasonable, and we are self-interested enough to make the important decisions to be our own government. This is they type of government we decided to use when our ancestors moved to America and formed the Democracy we live in today. A Democratic government like this is a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." We started our country this way but we aren't headed in the direction to end it this way.

The problem with our country today is that, individually, we don't care. In other words, we are not rational, we are not reasonable, and we are not self-interested like our ancestors used to be. We as a country are spiraling ourselves back into the cycle that we once were in, back in Britain. We are letting the government make the decisions to govern us without being educated enough to really know what the consequences of those decisions are.

In my speech class, we had a discussion about the pros and cons to the federal minimum wage raise. There were only two people in my class, myself and another, that actually considered the bad side to this change. Most people decided this was the greatest decision that could have been made for our country, all the while it will probably cause the country to tip over the edge. Yes, more money always sounds good- but is it? We don't have the money to spend paying our employees more. Small businesses will shut down closing smaller towns for good. People will still not be able to afford living because the price of all things, housing, groceries, fuel, will all go up with the raise.

My opinion- let's go back to making pennies a day. The family has a garden, milks a cow, sews their own clothes. Then we can really live. Then we can really be happy. No more consumerism. No more buying things just to look rich, because we really aren't.

We need to start thinking for ourselves. We need to start doing our homework and really understanding what our government is doing. Let's go back to being rational, reasonable, and most importantly, self-interested. To not, is tyranny.