A lot of these problems are a result of the people actually. While the government is constantly thinking of new ways to control citizens' lives for the most part citizens actually want government in their lives. I can sum up just about all my political views on all issues in two words: personal responsibility. Every time you take responsibility for a choice you make whether it is your health, safety, security, finances, work, school, ethics, social interaction, relationship, or any other issue then that is one more step toward you being a free sovereign individual who determines your life destiny and your own pursuit of happiness. Every time you decide that you want someone else to take responsibility for one of those areas of your life you are delegating that choice to someone else such as your family or the government.
I used to be a flaming liberal. I believed in the mantra that the whole human population should come together, work together, share together, provide for each other, etc. I was basically a communist. Then as I started working and paying bills and interacting with more regular people in the adult world I started realizing that most people are where they are because they put themselves there. Some people are naturally lucky and others are naturally unlucky but even within those spheres they still have an element of choice. The problem with choice is that it comes with consequences requiring responsibility. People who want freedom understand the risks and responsibilities of choice and that nothing is guaranteed in life. People who don't want to have to take responsibility for their life want the government or someone else to do it for them.
This is why I'm now a libertarian. Life is tough and really sucks a lot of the time. But those who struggle through the impossible and eventually succeed become better people and set better examples to others in life. When everyone is homogonized to not think for themselves and give up powers to others to do everything for them it creates a lot of the problems we have today: intellectual laziness, no motivation, crime, a sense of entitlement, etc.
Either you control your life or someone or something else does. I don't like getting on commercial airplanes or entering government buildings for the sole fact that I'm required to give up my tools of self defense and put my faith in government security forces who at the end of the day don't really care what happens to me. I don't care if it is my safety, my health, my money, my religion, whatever. I want to decide how I pursue my happiness, not leave it up to the government. As long as people continue to not take personal responsibility, we will continue to lose our freedoms. It is that simple.
