September 25, 2007
by Clay Barham

Do you ever think about how government starts and how far it can grow?  The basic government has always been the family, with a father leading, mother supporting and children growing.  Most often, the next layer is the tribe, where all the related families and others accumulate and function together for the benefit and protection of all.  In America, except for the Native Americans, the local church congregation replaced the tribe. The church elders often performed the regulating functions of the small community.  Ultimately, as the communities grew, towns, cities and counties formed and the churches were replaced by a more secular organizing principle. 

The county usually functions as the democratic government. The people elect supervisors to act like a board of directors.  A county manager functions as the CEO.  They elect a sheriff to serve as the chief law enforcement officer, and Judges to serve as magistrates.  Electing these two apart from the supervisors prevented concentration of powers.  They passed laws voted on by the people.  They built Jails to house those convicted of breaking the law.  Fire districts formed for fire fighting, usually staffed by volunteers. The county took on the role of property use planner.  For the most part, the county reflected the character of the people that created it.  The county was more like a feudal foundation for what grew to be America.  It was, and still is, the basic government.

The colonies in America became the states.  They assumed the role of a government to do for the counties that which they could not do for themselves as it applied to relationships with other counties, individuals, corporations and laws crossing all boundaries.  A legislature formed from those representing the members of the counties, and a chief executive elected, usually a governor.  Magistrates forming superior courts tried laws passed by the legislature. Lower municipal and county courts tried most cases involving individual lawbreaking.

The Articles of Confederation and the Federal Constitution formed a federal union to do for the states what they could not do for themselves, such as dealing with foreign nations, protection by a military as well as a uniform monetary policy.  The Federal Government was strictly limited in its affect on the states and counties.  Americans were free to function without concern for any imposition of regulations by the central government.  That has changed in the 20th and 21st centuries.  The closer government-people role that epitomized America, and led to her fabulous economic growth, is being replaced by rule of the few over the many.  Is it better to manage Americans by those in Washington instead of managing themselves?

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In 2005, hurricane Katrina almost destroyed much of the city of New Orleans.  Two years later, not much was done by anyone to return the city to its original condition.  The people look to the Federal Government for leadership in doing that job.  On October 25, 1875, half the four thousand buildings in Virginia City, Nevada, burned down amidst high winds and snowfall. Of the 35,000 people in that city and its immediate vicinity, no one starved, froze, went without shelter, food or clothing.  In two months, all but the two largest buildings, the International Hotel and the Courthouse, were rebuilt.  It stayed within Storey County, paid for and accomplished by the people that lived there.  No one looked to or expected help from the State of Nevada or the Federal Government.  The city recovered and was better than before it burnt.

The welfare handouts that have almost crippled the United States assumed and managed by those who use it to gain political power, were always a function of each county.  Like Storey County, Nevada, people cared for their neighbors and educated the children in their counties with no help from the outside.  America was one of the most literate nations in the world and produced many great achievers because of its education and its conception of the role of free people.  The people of America were not dependent on community, but were encouraged to live free and prosper to the extent their talents, skills, interests and aspirations allowed.

We have but to look at the criminal and corporate court trials in America today to see that they are moving from the counties in which laws are broken, to the state and federal levels.  The management of our own lives has moved further away from each of us. We are encouraged to look to Washington for satisfaction of all our needs, rather than our counties, our states or ourselves.  The more we remove governance from the individual, less interest, more corruption and inefficiency results.  Is the next step to push all the functions of government to the United Nations?

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Clay Barham [send him email] has been a candidate for the California legislature and a stand-in talk show host for ABC.  He was educated in physical and behavioral sciences, with a Ph.D. in sociology.  He is the author of five books, with his latest being Foundations of Modern American Conservatism and Liberalism: The Roots of Freedom and Tyranny.  Visit his website at http://www.claysamerica.com.