The people of America have lost faith in our government as an institution. The simple- minded solution is to dismember the government. Reagan used this to his advantage when he ridiculed the institution by saying “I”m from the government and I”m here to help!” as a joke. The fact is that in this ever-more complex and fast-moving world, with economic and physical threats coming from every direction on a daily basis, we need better government, not anarchy.
During the 1960s the Civil Rights movement finally prevailed, enraging the South. The Civil War did not end for them in 1865; it goes on until this day, reenacted on a regular basis and kept alive in their hearts and minds as a living, ongoing thing. Richard Nixon ran for office using his now famous “Southern Strategy,” in which he used the Democratic passage of Civil Rights legislation as a hammer to forge an alliance to retake the White House. Sadly, he ultimately did more to smear that office than anyone before him, causing even more loss of faith in our government.
The CIA and its never-ending wars in every corner of the globe have added to this mistrust. Time after time the country that talks about freedom and democracy has backed one dictator after another in a ceaseless effort to actually deprive people of their freedom and democracy. In doing so they have created animosity and damaged our national security more than any enemy could have ever hoped to accomplish.
Our government has failed to protect our consumers or our laborers from grossly unfair trade practices and toxic products. Despite having a clear warning about the dangers of allowing our economy to continue to be dependent upon oil in 1973, we still to this day do not have a comprehensive energy policy that would wean us away from this obvious Achilles” heel.
Fortunately there are many ways for our government to reverse this situation. It”s important that the taxpayers feel that the investment being made gives a fair return to the citizens, which is simply not the case right now. Taxpayers need to feel that their representatives are part of them, not above them or representing interests that actually run counter to the peoples” best interests.
Why not pass a law that forces all federal employees participate in Social Security? The fact that federal employees are outside the system makes the rest of us suspicious about why the program we are entitled to is not good enough for them. Instead of a Congressman getting a lifetime pension for two years of service, they could get an extra 10 percent added to their monthly pension check for their service.
Our bridges and roads are crumbling from 30 years of neglect while we have the Army Corps of Engineers building military bases all around the world that ultimately make us less safe. They have built countless dams, levees and other infrastructure here in the past, why not have them focus on our interstate highway system now? During World War II they built a 1,400-mile highway to Alaska in just a few months. Seeing the work getting done twice as fast for half the cost would go a long way toward rebuilding trust and confidence in our government.
Instead of continuing corporate welfare for oil companies, totaling about $17 billion per year, let”s end those subsidies immediately and use that money to develop renewable energy on a crash program that recognizes the seriousness of the problem.
It”s easy to simply point out what”s wrong in a target rich environment. The real issue is how we deal with what”s wrong and to take action instead of simply calling for government to be disemboweled. Government has lost its way; it”s our job as citizens to insist that it be fixed, not to simply “starve the beast.” We can”t expect government to get better if we keep electing people who don”t believe that government can be a force for good and they must be held accountable. Seeing a few former officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission going to jail would help!
Columnist”s note: In a recent column I stated that President Obama had won not only the greatest number of votes in history but also the largest percentage win since 1984. The President did receive the highest vote total in history, 66,882,230, which is 4,853,945 more votes than any other candidate in history, but the correct year should have been 1988 (by 0.003 percent).”
Lowell Grant is a weekly columnist for the Record-Bee. E-mail him at c21vintage@aol.com.
