[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H6819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GOVERNMENT 101

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barr). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, a good friend of mine Dave Reed from 
Savannah, Georgia sent me an article which he entitled Democracy and 
Government 101. It was an article written by Cecil Hodges, also from 
Savannah, Georgia who is a friend of mine and pastor of Bible Baptist.
  He talks in the article about the size of government and basically 
what happens when government gets too big. I am going to read parts of 
this article, Mr. Speaker:

       When government is strong, especially when it is 
     centralized, it poses a real threat to its citizens who are 
     liable to many abuses. Every democracy faces the tendency of 
     government demanding more and more taxes because some of its 
     citizens are seeking ever-increasing benefits of the state.

  I thought this was a very telling article. It goes on to say that a 
great portion of the manpower in the country becomes employed in 
governmental services. This becomes a problem because when the
 government seeks to establish a strong bureaucracy, it has to support 
itself. And of course, we know in this congress that the way it 
supports itself is by requiring the citizens through confiscatory 
policies to pay more and more taxes.

  Then it says: All people living in a democratic society must be aware 
that the more government provides, the more they take from the 
producing citizens, and the more they control and exercise over the 
people. And in fact the article goes on, Dr. Hodges points out to us 
that eventually it enslaves its people.
  This is a problem that we are faced with in our government today. 
This is one of the things that I am so proud of, the current freshman 
class, the 73 new Republican freshmen who have come in here to cut down 
on the size of government because they cannot do that without cutting 
down on the bureaucracy.
  Just to give you an idea, most people always say, I hate to see the 
land all going away. The size of the Federal Government, Mr. Speaker, I 
know you probably will be shocked to learn; the Federal Government 
owns, listen to this number, 726,686,000 acres of land in the United 
States of America. The Federal Government, not mentioning the state and 
local government, owns 32 percent of the land in America.
  Now, what does that mean? Of course it needs the taxes to support the 
services required on that land, people who have to take care of it. 
What does it also mean? It means 32 percent of the land cannot be owned 
by the private sector. Therefore, to pay for the upkeep of that land 
and all the other governmental services, we are only working with 68 
percent. But actually it is less than 68 percent when you take out the 
state and the locally owned land.
  Two hundred seventy million acres is managed by the Bureau of Land 
Management. This is the size, Mr. Speaker, of California, Oregon, 
Washington, and Arizona. And about half of the 270 million acres is 
severely restricted for environmental reasons, and the public cannot 
even go on it.
  You may remember the story last year of a Boy Scout troop that was 
hiking in the wilderness area and one 12-year-old got lost on the 
trail. And the Boy Scout troop started looking for him and could not 
find him. Finally they called out all the correct authorities, and he 
was located by helicopter. They found the 12-year-old boy by 
helicopter. They spotted him and then they called, I believe it was the 
Park Service, Mr. Speaker. They said: We need permission to land 
because this is a motorized vehicle, and this is a pubic land that 
restricts motorized vehicles. And sure enough the jar-headed 
bureaucrats said no, you cannot do it.
  How would you like to be that 12-year-old. How would you like to be 
the parents of that 12-year-old? They told the kid to wait where he 
was, that they would try to locate him on foot. Eventually they figured 
out they could not find him on foot. They did give permission for the 
helicopter to land. But what an absurd notion that we have. But that is 
what happens when the government owns too many things, when the 
government gets too big for practical and common sense.
  Mr. Speaker, I bring that up just to further illustrate the story of 
what Dave Reed called, Dr. Hodges' article, Government and Democracy 
101.
  Government gets too big, our own freedoms pay the price.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the article to which I 
referred.

                       Government for the People

                           (By Cecil Hodges)

       When government is strong, especially when it is 
     centralized, it poses a real threat to its citizens, who are 
     liable to many abuses.
       Every democracy faces the tendency of government demanding 
     more and more taxes because some of its citizens seek ever-
     increasing benefits from the State.
       For three hundred years a nation was governed by Judges. 
     They brought chaos to this nation. The people demanded a 
     king. They were warned to be prepared for dangers inherent in 
     government under sinful men. Three hazards to a strong 
     centralized authority were given.
       They were warned that a king would conscript their sons for 
     military service. He would appoint leaders and engage workers 
     to render civil service to him and his organization of 
     bureaucrats.
       Thus a great portion of the manpower of the country would 
     be employed in governmental service. This has been one of the 
     problems of every society when government seeks to establish 
     a strong, self-serving bureaucratic organization.
       They were also warned that in order to pay for an ever-
     increasing bureaucratic organization, they would pay more and 
     more taxes.
       All people living in a democratic society must be aware 
     that the more government provides, the more they take from 
     producing citizens and the more control they exercise over 
     the people.
       Whenever the State increases its control over the nation's 
     economy, enlarging its staff of officials and workers, and 
     exacts an ever-growing portion of the nation's wealth through 
     taxation, it becomes a monster which no longer serves the 
     people but enslaves them.
       The great privileges of a free people must be safeguarded 
     by every citizen's commitment to and participation in 
     government that maintains law and order, administers economic 
     justice, prevents oppression of the weak, and resists the 
     temptation to serve its own ends.
       All Americans should ask themselves, ``Is the government 
     here for us or are we here for the government?'' Our 
     government should be of the people and for the people.
     

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