The Danger of Big Government

If you are in any doubt about the danger of big government I would direct your attention to the State of Victoria.

A State Premier has destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of business owners. He has curtailed freedoms and liberties. Laws are being selectively enforced and citizens are being stalked by the police.

Where has the freedom gone?

The State of  Victoria reminds me of the famous quote from US President Gerald R. Ford.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.

That's exactly what we are seeing in Victoria today.

A bloated government, empowered by a feeble opposition and a public who have long embraced the cosy cocoon of socialism, are now making their power felt.

Just today the Premier announced an extension to the state of disaster

Today I can announce we have extended the state of emergency and disaster for a further four weeks. It underpins all the different rules, underpins safe and steady steps. I will come to what those steps mean from midnight tonight.

Power is dangerous because it corrupts,  and generates an insatiable hunger for ever more.

That's why we have a political system designed with checks and balances.

An electorate holds a politician to account. The parliament holds governments to account and the free media provides a scrutinising eye over  everything.

But what happens when those traditional levers break down?

In Victoria, despite the gratuitous abuse of office and taxpayer funds by the Andrews' government, the people continued to re-elect them.

In the upper house, instead of principled and committed parliamentarians to scrutinise legislation, the rigged system delivered  the balance of power to an assortment of misfits and leftists.

That has enabled the Andrews' government to rule under 'emergency powers' and operate without the scrutiny or approval of parliament.

The opposition, whose task it is to hold the government to account has been missing in action for so long that they no longer know how to do their job.  That weakness has emboldened the government to do almost whatever they want.

The media too have failed the community. They have not been unbiased reporters or public examiners of fact. They have not been holding the states leaders to account. Instead many have been reduced to cheerleaders for their preferred political tribe.

Victoria today is what happens when our institutions fail us. How can we expect better from our governments when so many involved in our political process, have spent so long not doing their job.

It's a pity that it has taken the creation of a police state to waken them from their slumber.