As a good father or mother you govern your children. You bring order. You regulate the family’s finances. You expect your children’s respect and input, their cooperation, and you even tax them: they are expected to do chores, yard work, trash out, clean their bedroom/bathroom, etc. That’s taxing. They too must carry their share of the household upkeep. You set standards, establish rules, discipline them for misbehavior or reward them for good behavior. In short, you have no problem wielding your authority, exercising your power as a parent to govern them.
Why government? Without government we’d either have chaos or severe oppression by unscrupulous and brutal thugs. That’s why. Government must govern. It must establish order, set laws, and regulate. Government is actually a good thing, not a necessary evil as some would have us think.
Thus, it is not government, as such, that is our problem. Yet, every election-year we hear the same mantra, crying out, “Government is bad, it’s too big, it’s too controlling,” and so-on and so-forth. It’s like the child who says, “I hate my dad!” Why? “Because, he won’t let me have my way and do whatever I want.” Really?! That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Imagine if everyone in any given society literally did what they wanted, had their own way, especially in the realm of money and economics. There are a lot of sharks out there who would eat you up alive, at the drop of a dime.
Thus, government regulation is good. It protects. It protects the ecology. It protects the weak and innocent. It protects the minority and those with less-than. It protects the powerless and helpless. It protects the little guy. Regulation protects us. For example, economic and banking regulation protects our pocketbook from the unscrupulous wealthy powerful. Food and health regulation protects us from epidemic diseases. Auto regulation protects us from unnecessary bodily injury. Insurance regulation protects us from fraud. You get the picture. Government, regulation, is helpful, protective.
Sure, there is bad government too. But having no government at all or reducing it to nothing more than a rubber-stamper to special powerful interest groups is even worse. Good government is a just and equitable government. Good government protects and watches out for all its citizens not just a chosen few. Good government neither exploits nor wastes in the name of profit. Good government neither favors the few wealthy and powerful, nor crushes the poor and needy. Good government regulates with the aim of creating a fair and just society so as to provide fair and just opportunities to all its citizens. Good government builds, strengthens, and expands its middleclass, thereby empowering the majority of its citizens.
Thus, I am wary of those who run for election based on a platform that says government is bad or too large or too controlling or is too much. Why then are they running to occupy the very office that will hand them the very same governing powers they seem to be attacking? Once in office they never say, now I want less power. They simply take that same power that comes with the office and wield it in their favor, forgetting that, in a democracy, those in office are to serve the people—all the people, in the best interest of the nation/state/community as a whole.
So what should we-the-people want from our government? We should want protection from abuse. We should want justice and fairness with respect to money and business, health and medical care, environmental protection, employment and educational opportunities, and fair and just access to precious resources, be it food, water, gas and heating oil, communications & transportation systems etc.
Look at the way the Banking Industry has handled the housing crises. That alone should teach us that, without government, we will be taken-advantage of, by big powerful and wealthy self-interest. So let’s vote for good government not just for a less-government mantra that really serves only to support the special self-interest government of the wealthy and powerful few.
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