Americans Cant Be Goverened Without External Controls

Why Americans can't be trusted to govern themselves without external controls

The American government is an institution that establishes and enforces rules, provides services, and manages other affairs for its citizens. Additionally, each state establishes rules and enforcement. Throughout history, people have created governments to regulate various forms of conduct and to promote the well-being of society as a whole. Government is a central and essential feature of human life. We cannot function without it.

We can't trust Americans to govern themselves without external controls. Throughout history it has been proven that laws work to protect citizens. Case in point; drunken driving laws were very lax and as a result many people lost their lives and were severely injured in automobile accidents. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is an organization that works with federal and state legislators to increase the number of anti-drunken driving laws. As a result of their work, laws have been established increasing the criminal penalties for drunk drivers and especially for repeat offenders, saving countless lives. If we didn't have the laws against drinking and driving, the amount of motor vehicle deaths would increase significantly.

Americans have been subject to a rash of fraud in the financial industry. Many companies have failed due to fraud. The Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the dissolution of Arthur Anderson which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron undoubtedly is the biggest audit failure. "To date, the SEC has uncovered several instances of financial fraud committed by high-ranking executives at Enron. Many of the executives have been charged with wire fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy" (lawyershop.com). The CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) were convicted of numerous felonies and the CFO is currently serving a 24 year prison sentence. They would have never been charged and would have gotten away with fraud if we didn't have external controls. We have external controls so that people don't take advantage like they did. If we didn't have laws against fraud the financial industry would be chaos.

Eliminating external controls would prohibit the way we get our education. The government uses taxes to fund the school systems. If we eliminated external controls, we wouldn't have the funding for books and other supplies. "The form of government funding that would involve the least amount of government control already exists as the 60-year-old G.I. Bill. A similar student voucher program, in which schools are directly accountable to those they serve, would provide accountability that works and weaken, not strengthen, the need for government controls" (David W. Kirkpatrick). Relating to what David Kirkpatrick wrote, the G.I. Bill is the least amount of external controls that the