Government isn’t the problem; it’s the solution… if we support and use it responsibly.
There’s been a lot of blither written on both ends of the political spectrum about how government is not the answer to our accelerating challenges. Well, if not government — meaning the balanced authority of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches — then what?
Please don’t say “the marketplace.” We’ve been pushing that folly since Reagan announced in his 1981 inaugural address that “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” and, like lemmings, marched the middle class off a cliff, creating the widest disparity of wealth between rich and poor among all other major developed nations.
In 2023, the wealthiest Americans are worth 38 times what they were worth in 1982. The richest one percent own fifty per cent of the stock market and mutual funds according to the Federal Reserve. According to PEW Research, the share of Americans who are in the middle class has shrunk from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2023.
And now, in Trump II, we’re trying the same strategy on steroids and expecting different results…? Einstein is supposed to have said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Democratic liberals have looked to plug the poverty holes with social safety-net programs. I sympathize with this, though I grew up in a small Vermont town in which everyone was Republican. In those days, Republicans believed in helping those who couldn’t help themselves, they cared about the environment as they understood it. They believed in science and invention. They drew the line, however, at spending money they didn’t have.
Today’s MAGA Republicans bear no likeness to the Republicans I grew up with. They decry and destroy effective government systems and collaborative international relationships, ignore science and innovation, and unwind regulation and taxation – at least for themselves — and pray at the feet of a would-be dictator.
Who are these people? Certainly not the party of Lincoln.
Here in Vermont and in the nation, we must … I was going to say “reinvigorate” but will now say “salvage” … the fundamental utility of government in our lives, not in the oligarchic form as currently envisaged but in its constitutional form, with its basic tenets of free speech, due process, balance of powers, and attention to the common good.
Government’s role scales geographically from community to state to nation. Here at home, we must pay attention to the critical role of government in our lives as well. Politics being politics, we tend to focus on the successes and failures of individuals and lose sight of how the architecture of governing across the three branches must also change with the times. We whine about politicians with whom we disagree but don’t bother to communicate with them. Being a legislator in Vermont is hard work, poorly compensated, and under-resourced. I respect those willing to make the effort. We must come together and address the hard work of being a public servant and review the structural deficiencies in the system within which they work.
As technical progress accelerates, it only complicates strategic issues:
- Public education: quality and financing
- Healthcare: implementation, regulation and financing
- Criminal Justice: courts and corrections
- Poverty: housing, hunger, a livable wage, food systems
- Transportation: public and private
- Environmental protection and remediation
Do we elect leaders willing to do the difficult work of navigating change? Does the arcane cabinet system in the executive branch still make sense with six departments of health?
Can legislators address these complex issues with the limited resources they have at hand?
Are our judges, prosecutors, defenders, and court systems adequate to handle the pace of what we call crime? What is a crime and what is an illness? Are addiction and mental-illness really crimes?
We must ask the hard questions of ourselves, not just attack “government” as “the problem.” Government is an organizing concept. It needs care and adjustment like any other complex system. We must be ready to reimagine how we govern in each of the three branches. Our goal should not be to assign blame but to solve problems that are increasingly interwoven and complex. Are not the “moral determinants of health” that support wellbeing the same as those that determine educational success?
Here in Vermont, might it be time to convene some experienced people to imagine how we might re-engineer state government to better serve the needs of Vermonters rather than decry its failures?
On the national level, might we revisit what it means to be a politician? Is it a profession that seeks to aggregate power and authority and thereby enhance personal wealth and influence? Or is it a commitment to using the tools of good government to enhance the common good and defend the rights guaranteed us by our Constitution? Is it a lucrative career opportunity that simply benefits the office holder and his cronies or a commitment to serve others and enhance the lives of all of us?
To me, it is certainly not the sad, insecure little boy in the White House trying to present himself as a mature adult.
- Bill Schubart
