Have we lost our desire for self government?

On the surface, this seems like a ridiculous question. With politics being the hot item in the news today, and discussions on voting and American democracy dominating news outlets both foreign and domestic, it would seem that our system of self government is vibrant, indeed. But I wonder. I wonder if most of citizenry really full understands the meaning of self government and the dedication it requires from the individual. In the United States, we will always go to the polls to elect our representatives on federal, state, and local levels. I would venture to guess that most Americans would consider civic duty done here - voting being the tangible embodiment of self-government.

I would argue that voting is not the epitome of self-government; involvement is. Sure, you have to "do something" to vote, but that something can be as simple as pulling the lever (or pressing the touch pad) for the person who gives the best stump speech. And a good stump speech will always be a big part of politics, but I lament that it has become so much a part of our new concept of self government.

The New Self Government
I don't have any empirical evidence to back up this claim, but my gut tells me that Americans are no longer concerned with limiting the size of the federal government. At the very least, the principle of limited government is certainly not top of mind with the American public. Every Democrat candidate is espousing policies which would grow the size of government. Some proposals, specifically nationalized healthcare, could grow the government to such an extent that the tax base couldn't keep up from a demographic standpoint. Even looking to the GOP - once the party that road to power on promises of smaller government - has two front runners that have proven to be moderate tax-and-spenders.

It scares me that our populace has seemingly fallen into the belief that self-government means voting for the candidates who promise to "reform" or "change" the government, helping to bring equitable solutions to all. This is nothing more than advocating passive-aggressive class warfare and income redistribution. We must remember, as has been said many times before, that a government powerful enough to give us everything we want is also powerful enough to take away everything we have. We as a people must understand that self-government doesn't mean simply voting politicians into office, it also means placing restraints on our country's governing apparatus.