Jul 30 : "I Like Government"

"Let's not be fooled by cynical politicians who are manipulating our economic crisis towards permanent ruin, what our country needs right now is to get off of its ass and start spending."

That's a quote from an insightful piece written by my friend, Colin Alcock, in response to the right wing's constant trying to demonize our government, saying the "government is the problem" ... well, you've heard it all, you know the rest of their litany. But just take a few moments to read Colin's refreshing piece ::::

I like government.

I like paved roads. I like libraries. I like post offices.

I like a lot of the things that come from the government: firefighters, for example. It's great knowing that if there's a fire, someone's gonna come and put it out. Without the government, we wouldn't have public firefighters. So thanks, government! Firefighters are awesome! (And yes, even volunteer fire departments make use of federally funded training and equipment.)

The government is constantly making sure
that we have the resources, infrastructure and protection that everyone needs. You benefit from that everyday.

So it makes me mad when people say that they don't like government, especially if they haven't thought about what that really means. Do you like disaster relief? Do you like schools? Do you like food safety regulations? Then you like government.

There might be things related to government that you don't like. Personally, there are plenty of policies that I disagree with—but I realize that, at the end of the day, government is a good thing.

Right now, our government is in a lot of trouble. Politicians are trying to use the bad economy as an excuse to dismember our government. Already, in Pennsylvania, where I live, the emergency management budget has been quartered. In Philadelphia, where the schools are already in bad shape, one-eighth of the teachers have been fired (that's more than an entire grade level worth of teachers removed from the district). They are eliminating school buses. The city government is not keeping up with road maintenance. Across the river in New Jersey, similar slash and burn tactics are being applied, and I assume its the same in other states.

Unfortunately, these austerity measures have long lasting consequences that will continue to hurt us and our economies in years to come. (For example: under-educated students lead to an under educated workforce, which leads to lower paying jobs, which leads to a bad economy, which leads to problems for everybody. That's why we need a healthy government, because it can educate people, and everyone will make more money as a result.)

The current "compromises" being discussed in Washington will only make our situation worse. These "compromises" assume that government is bad and attempt to disable it when, instead, we need to be taking steps to make our government healthy, so that we can continue to have things like roads, firefighters, libraries, post offices, etc. Please remember that government makes modern life possible. Government facilitates the world we take for granted.

If you still think that you do not like government, please move to someplace that doesn't have one. (there are two options: a cave, far away in the woods, or Somolia.) I like government, and I want to keep mine.

I really hope that the "compromises" being discussed will prove politically untenable, and that the president will be forced to act unilaterally, to raise the debt ceiling through the power of the 14th amendment, without enacting any of these idiotic austerity measures.

Even if that happens though, I doubt he will have the courage to do what he needs to do next. Because what this country needs right now is to pay for the services that will help our economy recover. Yes, this does require defecit spending, but that's how government works. later, when the economy is healthy, there will be more taxes coming in because everyone will be making more money, and then we will be able to pay down that defecit, as we did in the prosperous 90s.

That's what's great about having a government: it can spend the money that it needs to to fix the economy. Not only that: that's what it is supposed to do.

Anyway, I hope I've explained why I like government, and why I want one, and why I hope that we still have one after August 2nd. I'm really tired of people acting like we don't need a government or saying they don't like it, when, in fact, everyone benefits from the government, everyone likes what it does, and almost everyone needs it.

Let's not be fooled by cynical
politicians who are manipulating our economic crisis towards permanent ruin, what our country needs right now is to get off of its ass and start spending.

To read Colin's piece from his own page, here is the click :::"I Like Government" ... (CLICK HERE)