When did we become so stupid

When did we become so stupid?  It seems the Government, both Federal and State, spends a massive amount of money telling us how we should live our lives.  Surely we know that providing oranges for our children is much better than coke and hot chips.  Do we not know that getting out and exercising is better for our health than watching television? When did we forget that children need to have breakfast before they go to school? Shouldn’t we know that speeding, drink driving or driving whilst fatigued could all be fatal?  As parents should we not supervise our children enough to monitor what they watch on TV and see on the internet, why do we need a government filter?  Why is it that bureaucrats in Canberra need to develop guidelines, policies, grant programs and advertising campaigns to assist us to live a good, safe, healthy life?  When did we stop taking responsibility for our own lives?  More importantly how do we get the responsibility back before it is too late?

I do not have any answers to these questions but I do know there are many Committees, organisations, working groups, research teams, consultants etc all focused on telling us how to live our lives.  More often than not these people are paid by the Government, using our taxes, to tell us how to live.  Does this not seem a little strange to you?  The more it happens I fear that we forget to think for ourselves, we start to think “Well if it was really bad for us the Government would tell us not to do it”.  So this means as a society we lose the ability to think for ourselves, we wait for the Government to do it for us.  Now this has to be bad, doesn’t it?

How I got to thinking about this topic is my life is full of free thinking, intelligent people, working hard, being innovative and dedicated to making this region a diverse and fantastic place to live.  They do not need the Government to tell them what to think, do, say, watch or eat.  Most of us are free-thinking, self motivated, capable human beings.  I understand the Government has a vital role to play in our society and we are blessed to live in a country where we can democratically elect our leaders and corruption is minimal.  I am not wanting to diminish the importance of Government, they have great programs that we all benefit from, but I would encourage us all to keep thinking for ourselves and taking responsibility for our own actions and decisions.