One of the important things that I learned from Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends & Influence People” was that while some people like to be told what to do because it makes their life simpler, most people hate being bossed around. I used this wisdom when raising my children. Rather than demanding obedience, I explained to them the reasons for my request and discussed any concerns they had. I also tried to apply this to the other areas of my life. Two things were necessary for this to work. First, I had to be knowledgeable in the subject being discussed. Second, I had to be trustworthy.
The primary reason that people obey traffic signs is that they know that it is best for their safety and the safety of others. As long as people understand this there does not need to be a policeman standing by every sign giving out tickets. Unfortunately, today our government has lost credibility in many areas including COVID-19 mandates. Some blame this on the people that object to the mandates and misguided or self-serving conspiracy theories. The truth is that most people do not like mandates and our government has lost all credibility. Our political leaders put their quest for power over the health and safety of the people and they have turned us against each other. We must take the power back from the massive central government and return it to the people. Then we can rebuild trust in our leaders. Limited government is the foundation of our US Constitution and it is the foundation of trust.