The question is not whether citizens are capable of taking care of themselves (though that's what the collective wants you to believe) but whether we want to do it ourselves.
You said it right there, it becomes "burdonsome" because it is a responsibility.
Do you give your responsibilities over to people you don't know? Is that responsible?
I personally find it hard to believe the people can be responsible on their own, without mama government looking out, but I am also aware that this is programming. This is a social phenomenon that's been shown on a large scale many times. It's been argued for thousands of years.
Examples:
Aristotle believed slavery was natural
"But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature?
There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule." - Aristotle
People believed african slaves needed to be ruled as well, and when they were finally freed (in many nations) there was a belief they couldn't take care of themselves.
These ideas all stem from a psychological rationalization. People see others "accepting" of oppression, and then come to believe that is what they desire, or need. We now have it on a smaller scale in United States. An overall amnesia of the past, this belief that we need the government to protect us, control us, and regulate us.
I think a more rational method would be, every person needs to get assurance as to the safety and viability of what they pay for. If a person or company lies, or cuts corners to gain profit at the expense of safety, they have commited a crime.
Something socialists like Jon Stewart, or Olbermann, or Nancy Pelosi do not understand is that individual rights, and individual freedom does not mean anarchy. It does not mean that people have a right to harm others. Government exists for just that purpose, to be an objective third party that can maintain justice, without vigilantism.
The basic edict of individual rights, is that
You have no right to harm others. No one has a right to harm you. The government exists to preserve those two points.
We don't need government to preserve our rights. Rather government should be a more effective method when in a society.
Unfortunately this idea of the purpose of government as Locke said in the 1600s, and was lifted into the Constitution, "to protect life, liberty, and property" has been lost. Now it's become the progressive platform of Teddy Roosevelt,
"The supreme duty of the nation is the conservation of human resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial justice." -Opening sentence of the official platform of the Progressive Party, 1912.
aka: make laws punishing businessmen and their businesses, to preserve the poor working man. That is America's main purpose now.
Social Security, Welfare, Unemployment, Medicare, Workers Compensation, Health Insurance, war against nations that aren't advancing our goals of helping the working class, bailouts to businesses to help employment, bigger government for better employment, more taxes and debt spending to give to the poor, and fund all peripheral efforts for the poor. What is called corporatism, is a deal between government and business leaders to make the businesses fall in line with the government, in their ever expanding authority, with the kickbacks to those businesses. It is a trick, that the government is now the unions and the Pinkertons. With fancy titles given to the two sides, warring for ultimate control of resources they have stolen.
That is all America is now.
The idea that even one measure of American government would get off the back of industry is laughable at this point. It is as Obama said, to make a point and prove America loves this system;
"We can set up a system where food was probably cheaper than it is right now, if we just eliminated meat inspectors. And we eliminated any regulations in terms of how food's distributed and how it's stored. I'll bet in terms of drug prices, we would definitely reduce prescription drug prices if we didn't have a drug administration that's make sure that we trust the drugs so that they don't kill us. But we don't do that. We make some decisions to protect consumers in every aspect of our lives. And we have bipartisan support for doing it." -Obama during the health insurance summit 2/25/10
We don't do that. America is the nation of epic regulation, red tape, and bureaucracy. Obama is right. He can and will put forth more and more regulation against your liberty, because that is what we do.
But I never looked into it in detail.
