BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA, ARIZONA — People are superior to governments. “We the people … do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

We, the people, created the government to help safeguard our rights. We are superior to that entity. We need to remain master over it, not allow it to be the master over us. Those in government have been hired by us, the majority, to perform certain duties. We gave them the authority to fulfill their responsibilities. Their only source of authority and power is from “the people.”

We, “the people,” trust that those we have hired will fulfill their assigned duties with due diligence. When our trust is broken then we have the responsibility of hiring others to fulfill that job.

In today’s environment, government employees spend more time trying to keep their job that they don’t do their job. If they did their job, their assigned job, then they needn’t worry about keeping it. This is true on the national level, the state level and the local level. While there are dedicated politicians who serve their constituencies with integrity, there are others who float in the bureaucratic morass of mediocrity and self-service.

“We the people,” that is you and me, the individual, the citizen. “The sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression.” (Article 1 section 35 of the Alabama Constitution)

I need to fire some employees of mine!