The Role of Government

I came across this silly story the other day. According to the story, the British railroads were looking for a way to test the windshields on their locomotives, because sometimes, traveling at those great speeds, they would hit birds flying through the air. So they found out that British Airways had developed a cannon that would shoot dead chickens at the windshields of their airplanes, to see if the windshields were constructed well and they would withhold this impact. So the leaders of British Railroads thought, “Well, maybe we can borrow this device from the airline and try it out on our locomotives.”

The airline said, “Yes, you can borrow our cannon.”   So they did. As, they were getting ready to test the windshield on this locomotive, they sent someone out to buy some ammunition -- a dead chicken. The person bought the ammunition for the cannon, and they loaded the cannon with a dead chicken. They aimed the cannon and fired it at the windshield of the locomotive. The chicken went through the windshield, through the conductor’s chair, and made a big dent in the back wall of the locomotive.

British Railroads were very upset, and they called British Airways and they demanded an explanation. According to the story, British Airways said, “Okay, we see the problem. The next time you do this, make certain it’s not a frozen chicken.”

You see, the problem today is that we are trying to make the government do something it was not designed to do by the founding fathers or by God Himself who institutes governments (Rom. 13).

Government has many functions, but its primary one is to police the nation or state. In other words, to keep law and order according to Romans 13. So then, if government is going to keep law and order, it must have laws by which to operate. What government tries to do is to take a moral principle and institute it into something tangible, such as: The moral principle, “You shall not commit murder,” translates into, “Ban all guns.”

The danger is when government becomes too big, too wealthy and too powerful and too corrupt, it begins to enact laws that strips people of their freedom. To define freedom means, having a right to choose.  Well if government becomes too large and corrupt, it begins to intrude on people’s right and liberties and as a result, their freedoms (rights to choose) is stripped away. Governments do this because ultimately it does not fear God (1 Peter 2:17).

Now government as an institution is neutral or non-moral. It only becomes moral when people are placed or elected to serve in it. So good moral people. help to make the government moral. Corrupt immoral power-hungry people help to make it corrupt.  

So people ultimately get the government they deserve. Why? Because the people who serve in government got there by being elected by the people. The workers in government are a reflection of the people.

Liberals will elect liberal people and government will turn liberal. Conservatives will elect conservative people and government will function in a conservative manner. But when you have a government that is both conservative and liberal, long delays, inner fights, bitter squabbles, and self-serving interests take over.  The people, therefore, suffer.  Yet, the people got the kind of government they deserve. Government was not designed to function like this.