- What we're going to do in this video
is think about how the core beliefs
of U.S. citizens impacts their views
on the role of government.
And what I'm gonna do
is talk about a few core beliefs
that are often associated with the United States,
but taken with a grain of salt.
It's obviously a very large
and a very diverse country
where people have many, many, many beliefs.
Now one thing that often gets associated
with the United States
is this idea of self-reliance.
Self-reliance.
Or sometimes would be called individualism,
or these are related ideas, individualism.
And this is the idea that, hey look,
an individual, if people don't get in their way,
can take care of themselves,
that the goals of that individual
should sometimes or often trump those
of the collective, or say the government.
And so you can imagine,
someone who has a strong core belief
in self-reliance or individualism,
they would want a limited government.
They would say hey government,
just get out of my way
and I can take care of myself.
Now, a related idea to that,
but this would be going into the corporate realm
or the entrepreneurial realm,
is the idea of free enterprise.
Free enterprise.
And this is the idea that, hey,
we can generate wealth, we can create things,
we can innovate, once again, if enterprise,
if entrepreneurial activity,
is left to its own devices.
Now, once again, this core belief
in free enterprise
would probably favor a limited government.
Hey government, just get outta my way.
The more that you get involved,
that just slows things down.
That just is a wet blanket on the creativity
and on the wealth creation that we could do,
left to our own devices.
Now, another idea is that of
equality of opportunity,
often associated with the United Sates,
equality of opportunity.
And this goes to the roots of the United States
where we don't have a formal nobility,
obviously, we don't have things like kings.
That the country started off,
obviously there's some major exceptions
around things like slavery,
but the country took pride in ideas
of equality of oppurtunity.
And to some degree,
they feed into these first two bullet points,
that if there truly is equality of oppurtunity,
it kind of backs up the idea that,
hey, let's just let people
take care of themselves.
Now on the other hand, someone who really cares
about equality of opportunity
might say, well, hold on a second,
not everyone is born into the same circumstance.
And because of that, if you truly care
about equality of oppurtunity,
there might be a role for the government to play
in helping to level that playing field a bit.
So these folks might not want
as limited of a government as some of the folks
who are strongly in the camp
of self-reliance or individualism.
Now the fourth core belief I'll talk about
and that is the rule of law.
Rule of law.
Now, any country, in order to function,
needs a rule of law.
But one thing that the United States
takes pride in itself,
and I think the United States citizens
take pride in itself, is that, hey look,
if there's going to be a contract
between individuals,
people will uphold that contract,
that because of a solid rule of law,
it's less likely that people
will get away with crimes.
And there are examples
that you could look around the world
where people might have less faith
in the rule of law.
Well,
(mumbles)
people are getting away with stuff
or if I get into an agreement with someone,
there's no way
that I can really enforce that agreement.
And so the rule of law,
this would argue for some role of government,
but it depends how focused or how limited
of a rule of law people's core beliefs are.
And to make these core beliefs
and their impact on government
a little bit more tangible,
I have some quotes from some notable Americans.
Now several of these are Presidents,
but their views are really indicative
of broader views in the American population.
So, this first one comes from
President Ronald Reagan and he said,
Government's first duty is to protect the people,
not run their lives.
So which core beliefs do you think Ronald Reagan
is representing here?
Well, when I look at this,
it seems like he doesn't want the government
to really mess with people's lives,
he's really talking about self-reliance,
individualism, free enterprise.
And he is making some reference,
that look, there is a duty to protect the people.
So he's saying you do need the government
to enforce the rule of law,
but he seems to favor a limited government
and he, indeed, did favor a limited government
that does not get in the way of, say,
free enterprise or people's ability
to be self-reliant.
Now, some would argue
on the other end of the spectrum,
here is a quote from Franklin Roosevelt,
in which he said,
Not only our future economic soundness
but the very soundness
of our democratic institutions
depends on the determination of our government
to give employment to idle men.
So, FDR here, is talking about
a very active government,
not the type of limited government
that Ronald Reagan seems to allude to.
Here, he's saying that
it's the job of the government,
and remember the context here
is FDR was President during the Great Depression
and the beginning of World War II,
and during the Great Depression
you had massive unemployment,
and he's saying look,
not only the future of our economic soundness
but the very soundness
of our democratic institutions depends on
the determination of the government
to give employment to these men.
Now, his argument might have been look,
if we don't give employment,
then you could have a revolution on your hands,
then people are gonna lose faith
in this idea of the United States,
they're gonna lose faith in the government.
Now, on the other hand,
some people might say the whole reason
why we were in that mess
is that the government was intervening too much
and the more that the government intervenes,
it actually might not allow free enterprise
to naturally solve the economic situation
that we were in at the time.
But, once again, Franklin Roosevelt seemed to be
a little bit less on self-reliance
cause he said, look,
these people aren't gonna find jobs on their own,
the government needs to get them jobs.
Now here's another viewpoint.
This is from President Barack Obama.
And here, President Obama says,
The internet didn't get invented in its own.
Government research created the Internet
so that all the companies
could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed,
we succeed because of our individual initiative,
but also because we do things together.
So this is an interesting argument.
When he's saying this,
he's clearly making reference to these ideas
of individualism and free enterprise
that are strong core beliefs
in the United States.
This individualism is, we succeed
because of our individual initiative
and free enterprise.
These companies
that are making money off the Internet,
but his point is
that these things didn't happen on their own,
that, at least in this case,
the Internet was started as a government project.
You had DARPANET and ARPANET,
which eventually evolved into the Internet
so that free enterprise could take over
and, frankly, allow you to watch this video.
He's saying that the government actually does
have a role here and because of that role
that the government has played,
it has actually allowed things
like self-reliance,
individualism, and free enterprise
to flourish even more.
And last but not least, I'll give you a quote
from famous conservative economist,
Milton Friedman.
He used to be a professor
at the University of Chicago and he said,
Government has three primary functions.
It should provide
for military defense of the nation.
It should enforce contracts between individuals.
It should protect citizens from crimes
against themselves or their property.
And so Milton Friedman, here,
is clearly advocating for a limited government.
In terms of his core beliefs,
clearly from this statement,
he says, look, a rule of law is necessary.
You have to have your contracts between citizens,
you need to protect citizens
from crimes against themselves or their property.
If you read more Milton Friedman quotes
and I encourage you to,
regardless of where you are
on the philosophical spectrum,
they're all quite interesting.
He has a strong underlying core belief
in self-reliance, individualism,
and free enterprise.
But I'll leave you there.
Think about it on your own.
How does the core belief
of a United States citizen, including yourself,
how does that impact your view
of the role of government?