Though written for a West Texas audience, readers can readily adapt this to their own locality.
Mark Twain
There is history behind why some today express disdain for the federal government. I'll save that history for later but say here that a cruel joke has been played upon many Americans of moderate means. They've been persuaded to think, talk and act politically against their own best interests, all to benefit controlling big banking, corporate and Wall Street interests.
Those interests I call "the banksters" want you to believe that your federal government can't do anything right and is only bent on violating your rights, invading your privacy, taking away your guns, demolishing your religion and taxing you to death. Funded and misinformed by the banksters, pundits and political mouthpieces doggedly sing this tune to make the lie become truth if only repeated often enough. They do this because the only possible effective restraint on predatory capitalism would be the federal government; they want you to weaken your government or redirect it's mission for their financial gain.
Let's consider the accuracy of anti-government claims. The US government is the foundation upon which our American society is built. We're lucky as residents of this country in that our social foundation was well thought out and crafted to withstand the test of time. Perhaps the only thing that can bring it down is our own lack of understanding about it. (These days we're skating perilously close to that cliff.)
The government was established by adoption of the US Constitution with its purposes expressed in the Preamble to the Constitution. It's just one sentence but arguably the most important "mission statement" of modern times. With editorial assistance, the text as written is displayed for clarity:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
While the meaning of some purpose statements can be debated, some are crystal clear. The rest of the Constitution, including Amendments, directs the organization and actions of the government to serve those basic six purposes. With the inclusion of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution (The Bill of Rights) the focus of this government and society clearly is on PEOPLE, those living at the time of adoption and their posterity (that's us). Any way you cut it, this society was organized as a we society in which we collectively look after and care for each other. (And nowhere in this mission statement will you find mandates to preserve the profits of multi-national corporations.)
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