The Veterans Affairs ignores the health and medical needs of the people it was designed to serve. Solution? Throw more billions of dollars at the agency, in effect, rewarding it for failure, corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection orders Border Patrol agents to stand down, and invites destitute Mexican and Central American citizens to partake in the benefits the U.S. offers. Now the southern border is flooded with tens of thousands of immigrants who have illegally entered the country, many of them children. Solution? Throw more billions of dollars at the agency, in effect, rewarding it for failure, corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.

The president creates a Regional Stabilization Initiative designed to destabilize Syria with military training and weapons purchases to be used against a corrupt but stable government in Damascus. The effort fails at a time when Syria's neighbors are in danger of falling to a wave of terrorist violence. Solution? Throw $500 billion more at the effort, in effect, rewarding it for failure, corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.

The IRS targets Americans for their dissenting political views and activities, and then loses all the evidence. Solution? Throw more money at the agency, in effect, rewarding it for failure, corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.

Obamacare is created under a veil of lies and deceit with promises of more affordable health care for Americans but actually results in people losing their health insurance and sends costs skyrocketing. Solution? You guessed it. Throw more money at the agency, in effect, rewarding it for failure, corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.

Do I need to list more examples of the way this process works?

Too many Americans just don't understand how inherently corrupt government is and why it should only be the last resort to address problems, never the first.

Our Founding Fathers understood this concept. That's why they created a government strictly limited in its powers and scope. They understood that government is almost always a cruel taskmaster and inherently unaccountable to the needs of its citizens, who are always in danger of becoming subjects of their rulers rather than the bosses of their public servants.

There's only way to reverse this trend: A renewed faithfulness to the Constitution, which requires an informed and vigilant electorate.

Is that possible anymore in America in the 21st century?

With the complete takeover of schools by government, is there a chance for future generations to maintain liberty before descending into tyranny?

With government becoming more like God in our lives, do we even have the moral fortitude to sustain self-government?

Those are big questions. I don't know the answers. But the handwriting has never been on the wall more clearly for people to see for themselves. They should serve as a wake-up call to America's increasing tolerance of unlimited government in which the tail is wagging the dog.

We don't have government of the people, for the people and by the people any more. Or maybe we do. Maybe this is exactly the kind of unaccountable government we should expect when we neglect the first principles.

But surely we've been given an opportunity to see the reality of how government works these past few years. Promises mean nothing when there is no accountability and when failure means reward.

That's the beauty of the free market. It isn't perfect, but it works. Government is not nearly so efficient and will only be accountable to a vigilant, moral and informed public citizenry.

We don't have that anymore. We might be able to elect some people to push us in the right direction this year, but there are severe structural problems that need to be addressed quickly and consistently to push America in the right direction — to return it to the kind of nation it was designed to be.

In our kind of system, it's true that people get the kind of government they deserve. But the central problem is that government has grown way too big.

It needs to be cut down to size. It needs to live under the rule of law, namely the brilliant and inspired Constitution that provides so many checks and balances on power.

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.