(posted this on
http://justinbeach.blogspot.com/2010/03/actually-big-government-is-good-thing.html">my blog today.)
One of the great mantras of the neo-conservatives has been that 'big-government is bad.' The rhetoric suggests that government is the enemy of progress, the enemy of the people. It is not hard to imagine the sources of this view since government is the only real source of power held by the people and accessible by all people regardless of social status or income. I would hold that government is a good thing and to the extent that it's not it is the fault of voters and people who don't bother to vote.
Outside of government there are two other primary centers of power that affect people's lives. One is wealth (either personal or corporate) and the other is religious. Neither of these is ultimately answerable to the people except through government.
Business exists to make money and ultimately doesn't care if society is damaged as a result of the quest for wealth. Business does, regularly, engage in charitable and cultural activities. Most of the time this is for public relations reasons. Sometimes it is from heartfelt concern but in either case it is not their primary focus and it is done at the will of the company, not because of any kind of requirement.
Religion too engages in charitable work, but ultimately they exist to strengthen their own power or, as they would have it, the "power of god" as represented by the leaders of the religion. In some cases the leader of a congregation is chosen from the congregation itself but ultimately religious institutions are not subject to the power of the people either. It is actually the opposite. Religious institutions expect their congregations to be answerable to the the religious institution both financially and politically.
Democratic government, on the other hand, is directly answerable to the people or at least it is supposed to be.
There is a growing sense on the left and the right that government is not answerable to the people - That it is answerable to special interests, most notably business and religious groups. There is also a sense among many that it is irreversibly broken, inefficient, greedy and obsessed with power. To the sense that that is true at all, it is the fault of the people.
When monarchies and dictatorships were thrown down in favor of democratic government what we, as a society, were saying was that we were capable of taking over the job of government. We were saying that we could run our own affairs and did not need dictators or nobility to do it for us. Make no mistake though, we were taking on a job. There is work involved in government and it takes work to make government function the way we want it to - in the public interest. If we do not do the work, if we do not take an interest, then government will respond to the demands of the people who do take an interest and who do the work. Sadly, most people have left it to wealthy individuals and business and to religious institutions to do the work.
People, or at least a large number of people, have been convinced that what is good for business is good for society or that what is good for religious institutions is good for society. In other cases people have been convinced that government can do no good at all, that it is unresponsive and that participation is a waste of time.
To be sure sometimes what is good for business is good for society. Sometimes what is good for the wealthy is good for society. Sometimes what is good for religious institutions is good for society. It also goes without saying that sometimes what is good for these groups is not good for society and it is the business of government to do what is good for society in all cases, even if it does not please wealth or religious power.
Government is the only check that individuals have on the other centers of power. It is true that we can withhold economic support from business and from religious groups, but this is usually ineffective. First because there are some organizations that cannot be effectively boycotted and second because of ignorance. There are, and always will be, people who unthinkingly support unethical business' because they do not know the ramifications. There will certainly, for the foreseeable future, be people who support religious institutions because they've been trained to - their parents, grand parents and great grand parents supported that institution and they have been trained since birth to unquestioningly do the same.
It is only through government that we can control unethical, anti-social or dangerous actions by religious institutions, business and the wealthy. That is why we're being trained to believe that government is the enemy.
Whatever trouble we may have with government we have to roll up our sleeves and fix it. If our representatives are unresponsive, we have to elect new ones. If none of the political parties are responsive we must create new ones. It may be hard work but it is work we volunteered for (demanded in fact) and the only alternative is to give up all of the power we have and revert to tyranny. Make no mistake, people who do not vote, people who fail to keep themselves informed on the issues before government are by default voting to undo democracy and people who say that government is the enemy are actively lobbying to undo democracy.
Government can be made more efficient, more responsive. It can be used as a tool to build a better, stronger, happier, healthier society. It can reign in corporate greed and irresponsibility while allowing corporate profit. It can allow religious freedom while allowing the freedom from religion and curb abuses of power by public institutions, private institutions and individuals but someone has to actually do the work. Left to it's own devices government will serve private interests and the interests of it's members at the expense of everyone else, our society and our civilization - present and future.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
