All I have heard in the last three months are who someone is voting for in the upcoming caucus and elections. Quite frankly I am tired of it, and I love politics. Instead of backing a candidate I am instead going to explain what I think the role of our government should be.

Ronald Regan said it best when he said, “We are a nation that has a government — not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.” We have the power to tell the government what we want instead of them telling us what they think we need.

The role of government isn’t to dictate what our needs are and how they should be addressed. The role of government is to hear what we want as a nation and give us opportunity, not smother it.

When I think of the government, I like to make sports analogies. I see the government acting like a referee in the game of life. They aren’t a player in the game and they don’t coach (tell) the players how to play the game. They set boundaries and make sure the game is being played fairly.

Right now our government is acting too much like a player. For instance, on the topic of healthcare, they should not be providing their own separate health care. They should be loosely regulating what healthcare companies can and cannot do.

In the area of banking, the government should make sure banks are not charging ridiculous interest rates. That is called “usury” — a word you don’t hear very often.

Even in states’ rights, a common conservative cause spurned by the 10th Amendment, the federal government should curb some oppressive laws such as it did over slavery or Jim Crow Laws. But to insist on quotas? That is over stepping the government’s boundaries.

Sometimes during a game you see referees bring two separate players together to make sure they are on the same page or what they rules are and to make them come to a consensus. This is what the government should do. They should provide a space for companies and people to come together and tell them what the rules are and provide conversation about what that means realistically.

The best government in the world is controlled by the will of the people, not the people controlled by the will of the government. That is how we achieve “Of the people, by the people and for the people.”

I say let them play! Just keep it between the lines and for the good of the people. That will keep the government from corruption and will build the character of its citizens.