How Did We Get Here?
It’s a bit baffling, and more than a bit annoying. We seem
to have a legislative branch of government that is now completely
dysfunctional. And our Judicial branch
is less than fully functional, because it is now divided 4-4 due to the death
of the Court’s most corrupt justice—Mr. Scalia.
How relatively functional is the Executive Branch is at least arguable.
That branch seems to be the only fully functional arm of our government. At the
least, folks show up to work each day, unlike the legislative folks.
I wonder, suppose this was 1940, and we had the Nazi’s
knocking at one door, while the Empire of Japan was thinking of knocking at the
other door. Wouldn’t we simply collapse
in a heap of confusion, of mal-attention, because we were too busy decrying one
another?
In 1979, when I was at the time, working for a non-profit
research center in Washington, DC, I was asked to join the Carter
Administration to run a small office within the Office of the Secretary,
carrying out program evaluations of legislative programs. That was the work in
which I had been engaged in the non-profit, and so it seemed like a good
opportunity. But that was 1979. In 1980, Ronald Reagan came knocking at the
door, and burst through like a hurricane.
I never quite understood Ronald Reagan. His main claim was that
“Government was not the solution to any of our problems; government was the
problem.” Now, think about that. A man claims that government is the central
problem in our nation, and then he says that he wishes to run that government. Anyone else see a problem there? Oh, I know, you’re thinking that he came to
Washington to swap out that bad old government with a brand new one, one that
was all sparkling clean, a well-oiled machine that would replace that cranky
old thing that had been operating under folks like JF Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson,
Jimmy Carter, and those nasty old Democrats.
He would bring to the Nation’s capital the same forces he brought to
California, ignoring for a moment his devastating effects on the California public
education system, and the California economy.
One author
characterized Mr. Reagan’s tenure in California thusly:
‘Once elected, Mr. Reagan
set the educational tone for his administration by:
a. calling for an end to free tuition for state college and
university students,
b. annually demanding 20% across-the-board cuts in higher
education funding,[2]
c. repeatedly slashing construction funds for state campuses
d. engineering the firing of Clark Kerr, the popular President of
the University of California, and
e. declaring that the state "should not subsidize
intellectual curiosity,[3]"
And he certainly did not let up on the criticisms of campus
protestors that had aided his election. Mr. Reagan's denunciations of student
protesters were both frequent and particularly venomous. He called protesting
students "brats," "freaks," and "cowardly
fascists." And when it came to "restoring order" on unruly
campuses he observed, "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No
more appeasement!"
Several days later four Kent State students were shot to death. In
the aftermath of this tragedy Mr. Reagan declared his remark was only a
"figure of speech." He added that anyone who was upset by it was
"neurotic."[4] One wonders if this reveals him as a
demagogue or merely unfeeling.
Governor Reagan not only slashed spending on higher education.
Throughout his tenure as governor Mr. Reagan consistently and effectively
opposed additional funding for basic education. This led to painful increases
in local taxes and the deterioration of California's public schools. Los
Angeles voters got so fed up picking up the slack that on five separate
occasions they refused to support any further increases in local school taxes.
The consequent under-funding resulted in overcrowded classrooms, ancient
worn-out textbooks, crumbling buildings and badly demoralized teachers.
Ultimately half of the Los Angeles Unified School District's teachers walked
off the job to protest conditions in their schools.[5] Mr. Reagan was unmoved.
Ronald Reagan left California public
education worse than he found it. A system that had been the envy of the nation
when he was elected was in decline when he left. Nevertheless, Mr. Reagan's
actions had political appeal, particularly to his core conservative
constituency, many of whom had no time for public education.
And so, when Mr. Reagan came into power via the US
Presidency, on a campaign wherein “government was the problem, not the solution”,
he began his 8-year reign of denigrating the government. So, perhaps it comes as no surprise that
republicans, who sanctify Mr. Reagan, have also adopted as a central theme of
their campaigns that government must simply get out of the way. Government is
an evil force that must be neutered.
And, as an aside, while I was working in the Department of
Health & Human Services, running an evaluation office, Mr. Reagan brought
in as a political appointee to run the office, a man who, a) knew nothing about
program evaluation, and b) turned out to be the stupidest person I ever worked
with or for, in my then 25 year career.
He really seemed to know little about almost any subject. Finally, when I feared becoming brain dead
working under Reagan, I quit government and began a new life working on my own
as a management consultant.
And that began the republican mantra, Government is
Evil. Now, with republican politicians
beating that drum, ably assisted by a right wing media, it seems at least a
strong possibility that able folks—thinking Americans possessed of some skill
set—would begin to think about alternate career paths. I imagine, over the past 30+ years that many
potentially thoughtful people who might otherwise have chosen a career in
government, especially in political government, have opted for a different path
altogether. Instead, we got a bunch of
Gomer Pyle’s, with nasty dispositions.
The kind of dude who, brings a snow ball into the halls of Congress and
tosses it out for all to see, as evidence that there is no global warming.
The central question here is, how can we reverse this trend
and begin to attract thinking creatures back into the Halls of Congress? First, I think, is for the voters of America
to decide this coming November that they do not want idiots running government.
Mainly, I would suggest that voters seriously consider eliminating republicans
in office. Only, it seems, if the republican party suffers a catastrophic
defeat this fall, might the party begin to reassess its priorities and its
mantra. If we really wish to make America great again, perhaps we might begin
by attempting to make American Government great again. One way to do that,
perhaps the only way, is to recruit intelligence into its ranks—get thinking
adults to seek office, and adopt rational policies likely to enhance our
Nation.
I will close with some thoughts from an earlier
posting. The thoughts seem to need
repeating.
In economic matters, extremes do not work. Under Bush, we
shifted dangerously in the direction of a fascist state—that is, a state in
which private owners of businesses dictate government policies. The inevitable
result is Enron, et al, as well as the collapsed financial system. We have been
drifting in that direction for quite some time now, even under Clinton.
Everyone has been so concerned with government regulation that they failed to
notice that unregulated business is as dangerous as unchecked government. One
gives you fascism; the other socialism. Private business interests must always
be checked to assure that the public is protected. So too must government
overseers. Balance in everything is the answer. But balance requires mental
agility. The public has little patience—they want the world to operate on
autopilot. They need to be convinced that a world in which competing interests
are balanced is both an efficient world, and a world that is worthy.
We need to pay for what we need. The
Republican Party has been, almost as a matter of policy, fiscally
irresponsible. They practice “charge and spend” politics. We will now have to
pay for their profligacy. The public—the thinking public—needs to understand
that we cannot continue on the course they charted and followed. Mainly the
rest of the world will not allow us to continue on this course. They will
simply stop buying our debt and then it will end, badly. Taxes are the way we
pay for our policies. Taxes are neither good nor bad, in the
abstract. They represent the price of operating our country, or, perhaps, the
glue of a civilized society.
We must pursue policies that are aimed at
preserving the Earth. We need to conserve. We need to pursue alternative energy
policies. We need to use economic forces to create a demand for
energy-efficiency and energy independence. Under Bush and Cheney, we have
pursued policies promoting wasteful energy consumption, mainly because he and
his advisers represent the extractive industries. We need to tax wasteful
energy consumption, so as to encourage wiser use of Earth’s limited resources.
We must pursue a policy of economic
independence for all our citizens. During my career, I worked for seven
organizations over a 45 year career. For 20 of those years, I worked for
several large and small companies that contributed nothing beyond Social
Security for my retirement. Bush and his republican allies have attempted on
numerous occasions to threaten that reserve. If indeed we wish to get rid of
Social Security, we do not need to “privatize” it. We need to pass legislation
that forces every economic entity in the country to pay into a portable
retirement system. TIAA-CREF comes to mind—the system used by most universities
and non-profits. If the private sector would begin to live up to its
responsibilities by a mandatory contribution system, we would not need Social
Security. Take the system used by universities and non-profits and replicate it
throughout the whole of the private sector. Do not allow companies to wriggle
out by use of part-time workers. If they employ part-time workers, they still
pay full retirement benefits. Otherwise, leave Social Security alone.
Republicans, continue in their zeal to scuttle
public education. We need to begin working with the states to repair the
currently deplorable state of public education. In our area of North Carolina,
they seem comfortable with a dropout rate of 35%. Think of that. We
can do better. Indeed, we are losing ground to the rest of the world, and we
are at risk of becoming a country of stupid people. Charter schools, especially
for-profit charter schools, and worse, fake private schools that are on-line,
are not an answer.
We must examine carefully the structure of
government. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was an absurd
idea—a solution in search of a problem. Think of it. The CIA and the FBI
wouldn’t communicate and were demonstrably inept, so we forced the Coast Guard,
FEMA, and the rest to become one entity. An idea only a truly stupid person
could embrace. Structure is not the answer when the problem is an
absence of thoughtful consideration of available evidence.
There
were a few other points that need not be repeated here. What we continue to
need is watchful citizens—citizens who are willing to question both private
commercial interests and public government interests. Corruption is a problem
that will always be with us, so long as we have serious economic imbalances and
so long as we have citizens who are basically dishonest—remember both the
corrupters and the corruptees are dishonest. Both need to be exposed
and punished. It is why, by the way, that we continue to need
whistle-blowers. Say what you will of the Assange-Manning-Snowden
groups, but they have informed us of some very unpleasant things about
ourselves. Transparency is key here, and we definitely do not have transparent
systems in either the public or private realms (thanks again Supremes).
We all
need to stand up and be counted. And that means we need to vote, regardless of
the efforts by the GOP to prevent folks from voting. If you don’t
vote, you will get the government you deserve.
