Skip to main content

One Should Hate Broccoli, not a Civil Society!

I am utterly baffled by the people who claim to hate government. Were they to say that they preferred to have a king to govern them, I could at least know what they were talking about.  I would think them to be hopelessly lost in time, but I would understand what they meant.

Were there people who really did not want any government, who really meant it when they said they hated government, and that they thought they would like to move to the panhandle of Idaho, or to an island somewhere--somewhere absolutely cut off from people who did not also hate government--I would hope that they could find such a place, and move there.  I don't want to live there, where there is no law; where there are no limits to what one can do, but maybe people who want that ought to arm themselves, stock up on biscuits and baloney, and go there.  I cannot think of any place in the world where anyone wants that, but maybe it ought to be tried.

But people do say they hate government; not simply that they think there are idiots in office, but that they hate the very idea, and that they want to be elected to office.

I almost understand Libertarians.  They, at least, try to argue for minimal government:  a strong army, perhaps; a police force to keep the neighbors off their grass;  and privately-owned toll roads.
"Just give me land, lots of land, under prairie skies above.  Don't fence me in!"

I don't want that, either.  I want law and order, enough military and police force to keep the peace, a fire department, schools, land set aside for parks, lines down the middle of the road, and speed limits and such driving rules as seem sensible and safe.  And more:  currency of some sort, medical care available to everyone, safe food and water, and so on.  That is why we elect people to arrange for those things.  We need a system of government.  Eventually, every community of people on earth knows it needs to manage a way to exist together; what to provide for everyone, and what to deny.  "You shall not kill, lie, steal, beat your children, or take the name of your preferred god in vain."

But to hate government is to advocate chaos:  every strong-armed man for himself; every woman a prize to be taken; and piss in the well if you feel like it.

We have just had another election, and the chorus of government disdain still resonates through the trees and in the canyons.  I think there are idiots in public office, but we elected them, and the people to want to take their places are sometimes even worse.  The political climate, and the sloganeering campaigns, make it almost impossible even to speak of what to do sensibly.  It is impossible even to sit down with friends and ask what they think government should be; that is to say, how we ought to arrange our public life together.  Our political parties carry old slogans and lost causes into our public debate.  That is to say, we have not finished fighting the Civil War, nor come to terms with the fact that every single one of us is an immigrant, nor even that it costs money to build roads and schools and engineer vaccines.  Sometimes we talk as if we really wanted theocracies:  a Christian nation, or a Mormon nation, or a Southern Baptist nation.  Sometimes we seem to be saying we want a caucasian nation, or a nation of heterosexuals only, or . . . or one with no government at all, almost. "Throw the tea into Boston Harbor, again, and take up arms!"

I wonder if, rather than trying to make sense of our existing political parties, we ought to formulate some general principles we would like to see, and ask candidates to tell us which general set of principles they will work to implement, regardless of which party they say they belong to.  For instance, better public schools, health care for everyone, and an attempt to eliminate every form of racism.  Or maybe, a prohibition of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, and a Gideon Bible in every house.  The private ownership of transportation, including the Erie Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway.  That is to say, institute a debate about what we want government to be and do, not just hate it and try to be elected to operate it.

Then the Republican and the Democrats and the Whigs and the Libertarians who have said they would work to reform health care, or transportation, or the school system, could talk to each other and try to formulate a plan.  The elected politicians who said the immigration policy needs to be revised, could talk to each other, whatever color necktie they wear, and report what they can do.

Personally, I am in favor of a monarchy, but only if I get to be king. "It is good to be King."  I do not hold out high hopes.  Some idiots will want to put it to a vote.  You know the type:  "We the People, in order to form a more perfect union. . . ."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friends-- My step-father of 35 years died this morning. His name was Conrad Royksund. He was 86 years old. He was born into poverty on a farm near Puyallup, WA. He was the first member of his family to attend college and earned a PhD from the University of Chicago. He paid his way through all of that by fishing in Alaska. He spent his professional career as a college professor. I met him when I was just 3 years old and don't actually have any memories of my life befor e he was in it. He was intimidatingly smart, funny as hell, and worked his ass off. He taught me to meet people with kindness and decency until I was certain they could not be trusted. He taught me to meet ideas with carving knives until I was certain they could. I will remember him as one of the bravest, most curious, and funniest people I have ever met. He left this world with a satisfied mind. We are so grateful. Dan Hubbard
1 comment
Read more

The Sea is Rising

Let us just step back:  two hundred and fifty years ago, or so, the ships of England and Spain had drifted onto a whole new continent, as they saw it, from far north to a savagely cold south; pole to pole, as if there were such things. Millions of people already lived here, some of them still hunters and gatherers; some of them very wealthy, indeed!  Gold and silver stolen from the southern Americas funded Spanish and English dreams. There was land, lots of land, under starry skies above, rich land, and oil and coal and iron ore.  The whole western world learned how to build industries not on simple muscle power, but on steam and oil.  We farmed, too, of course.  All we needed was cheap labor--slave labor from Africa, mostly, so the ships came with slave labor.  Chinese labor built railroad beds where there had been rock cliffs. Europeans, long used to killing each other for good, religious reasons, brought their religious savagery with them. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

That's all we want: fairness! Not more guns and more war! Fairness!

The five police officers who were killed in Dallas are certainly not the officers who killed innocent citizens. There is more than enough tragedy to go around. "What is happening to our country?", Mari asked this morning. I had no answer.  We do have an answer.  We do not want to say it. There are lots of answers, all of them pertinent. We are a racist society, like most human societies. We are a society in the midst of enormous changes-- social, political, economic--and we do not know what to do about it. We are divided unsustainably into absurdly rich, and an enormous number of crumbling middle class families, and poor. We have guns everywhere; military guns, guns just for killing people, cheap guns, heroes carrying guns into churches and supermarkets, idiots who think guns ought to be allowed in bars and schools and ball games and beauty parlors and political rallies. Our political process is almost useless. There are good people in Congress, but there...
Post a Comment
Read more