Suffrage.

As the the day that we practice our rights as citizens to choose our leaders draws near, it seems appropriate to take a step back and really think about this thing we call government. Somewhere, beneath all the layers of political maneuvering, smear tactics, pandering, stump speeches, and campaign propaganda, there lies the truth to what we're actually deciding in November. We are deciding how we want to be governed. We are deciding who we want to make the laws we will have to follow. We are deciding who will represent us and our interests abroad, and at home. Essentially, the bigger question we have to decide, for ourselves, is what role we want our government to play in our lives and in the lives of others.

Because the economy is the issue on all of our minds, it makes sense to consider of the role of government in terms of domestic policy. How best do we stimulate our economy and protect our citizenry (thereby protecting ourselves)? Does a strong economy grow from the bottom up, or does a strong economy grow from the investment class? Should our government help those who consume goods, or those who make goods?

I think we can all list a number of things we want our state and federal government to provide for us. It is hard not to appreciate a safe transportation system and clean drinking water. Do you want to feel safe when you fly an airplane or ride a train? Fire departments, police departments, emergency vehicles, public hospitals, schools, electricity, protection, safe pharmaceuticals, safe food...the list goes on. This list implicates more lists: So, you want safe food to eat? Even if the government isn't directly harvesting the apples or processing the Oreos or making the pizza you will eat, it has a hand in your food by limiting the pesticides that can be used, and mandating nutritional facts on the side of the Oreo container, and enforcing workplace laws at the Nabisco factory, and enforcing health codes at the pizzeria.

Everyone agrees that we need government. We need laws and we need standards and we need a body to enforce those laws and standards. Why? Because, left to our own devises, we will not do what is best for our society. Remember Hobbes and the state of nature? Without order, man's life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." In order to protect himself, man had to give up some of his freedom to the commonwealth. That's not to say that with a smaller government we'd run around killing each other. But, as we've seen in the unraveling of our financial sector, without enforcement, human beings tend to do whatever they can get away with. Some argue that the forces of the market could drive human behavior, and while in many aspects I believe that to be true, I do not think the power of money can direct all human action. Environmental policy is a good example of this. Would companies have ever voluntarily submitted themselves to environmental regulations? For example, would auto manufacturers ever limit fuel emissions on cars without government requiring them to? Consumers could theoretically ban together and refuse to buy something, but that generally doesn't seem to work.

While I think we can all agree that some government is necessary, we disagree on how much. We have political parties to help us identify with others who feel the same way we do about what government should do and how much. I personally want government to do a lot of things. I want government to provide health care and education and a clean environment and a better future. I want a government whose economic policy focuses on building from the bottom up: empowering consumers and "Joe Sixpacks" the opportunities to provide for their families and buy a house and envision a future for themselves. As Adam Smith said, "[n]o society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable."

I want government to do a lot of things. So, as I take a step back from all of the single issues and political banter, and think about what I really want in a government, it makes it all the more clear who I'm going to vote for.