A THOUGHT ON SOCIETY VS. GOVERNMENT
By Publius II
This title seems strange. Surely in a democracy the two work together.
Human nature drives society forward. People naturally want to improve their lives and give their children every opportunity to do so. But the same inherent force motivates government officials to stifle progress.
Rhetoric from these officials would have citizens believe that they and government are working effectively together. How, then, to explain the hidden reality that the same force acts in two opposite directions?
Here are three immutable truths about government:
1. Government is the only unregulated monopoly.
2. Government is a parasite on the private sector of the economy.
3. Government is force.
Capitalism and international trade that is free from government interference helps people improve their lives because economic and personal freedoms go hand in hand. Entrepreneurs borrow productive workers’ invested savings to create new businesses. Inventors create new machines and processes that multiply workers’ outputs.
If successful a new business may enjoy the benefit of a temporary monopoly. But no matter now great the invention competition will soon force down prices and limit company earnings.
Successful innovations bring beneficial changes to society. These include increases in the productivity of labor. Then employers can afford to pay more in order to retain the best workers and also reduce prices to customers. In this way individuals’ efforts to improve their lives also improve the living standards of the greater society. (Adam Smith stated the same when he published “Wealth of Nations” in 1776.)
Public officials, by contrast, collect money from individuals and companies by force of law. They earn but a small part of it while they devote a lot of it to meddling in private markets. As parasites they exert force to bite the hand that feeds them.
Why do this? In a capitalistic free market there are always some folks who don’t make out as well as others. Some of them complain to public officials instead of rolling up their sleeves and digging for gold instead of excuses.
Career politicians want to get re-elected, so they listen to these complaints and create laws and regulations that seem to help these people. But these rules distort markets and reduce or eliminate gains in productivity. Politicians know this, but they are more interested in using the money to get re-elected even as this corrupt activity injures the tax base.
Distortions reduce the efficiency of allocation of economic resources such as land, labor, materials, expertise and management. The result is that living standards cannot improve for others as much as they would without this interference. This is the result when government bites the hand that feeds it.
Furthermore this amounts to rule by an organized minority group with money over the unorganized majority. The Constitution preserves the rights of individuals, not groups.
With force, monopoly power and without competition and accountability (empty elections) officials face no external control over what they do. They have no way of knowing when, as they slowly ratchet up taxes, laws and regulations, they begin to harm society. What is going on today is a colossal case in point as Washington commandeers huge batches of taxpayer wealth and overbearing and paternalistic government gets bigger.
Human nature operates equally on public officials and private individuals. Thus officials are subject to two temptations. First, they are tempted to take more taxpayer money than necessary. Second, they tend to control public information about government so that taxpayers will not realize they are being ripped. After some 50 years of poor or nonexistent accountability the scam has grown so huge as to make Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion flimflammery seem like the work of an amateur.
Control of information cannot succeed unless the news media abandon their search for truth and cooperate in the deception. Do they? Yes. Why? There are at least three reasons.
Consumers have been programmed to demand breaking news (which is seldom checked for accuracy), celebrity hype, high drama, natural disasters, sports, tragedy and violence. Note that all of these cause emotional responses instead of serious thought guided by reason. Even the advertising is designed to arouse emotions.
This is why television is so popular. It is designed primarily to entertain and not to inform. It maintains the smoke and mirrors that career politicians need in order to mask what government is really doing. By contrast, thinking requires some effort.
Termites chomp away on a house while keeping under the radar. A thinking home owner hires an exterminator to control infestations of these sneaky creatures.
Without accountability government also operates under the radar as it chomps away at citizens’ wallets and purses. So the question of who controls government is vitally important and decidedly worth some serious thought.
The second reason is that investigative reporting is expensive. Reporting the “news” as described above is cheap. Thin gruel is not food for thought.
Programming of consumers of today’s news is thoro. They are seldom able to recognize good investigative reporting when they see, hear or read it. Rather, they are likely to conclude that it is just another cheap shot at a politician. “Brain washed” is not an inaccurate term to describe the situation.
The third reason stems from concentration of stupendous personal power and money in the national government. (Thinking citizens realize that this accumulation violates the very core of the Constitution.) Unless the media cooperate, they will enjoy no access to the high and mighty.
American foreign policy is run by the huge pentagon, which makes war. A continuing state of war keeps ordinary citizens hunkered down in tight-sphinctered panic and dependent on a top-down government to protect them from foreign ogres; see PG11. But friends, all this is only a distraction. Our real enemy exists within our borders, not over there.
Peasants also want their take on breaking news, violence and drama. It is tempting to wonder if in a democracy there would be some folks who become high and mighty courtesy of the taxpayer. Pocket Gofer 19 elaborates.
For these reasons the news media have gradually become press agents for government. People asked for it; they got it. But why are citizens asking for it?
From the nation’s beginning until the Great Depression of the 1930s citizens held fast to a healthy skepticism of government. They held public officials’ feet to the fire, thus forcing them to be public-spirited public servants. In direct contrast with today the force was with the citizens.
The prevailing attitude was trust but verify. Knowing they were being held accountable for what they do, officials either toed the line or were pitched out of office.
During the 1930s Great Depression millions suffered through grinding want. Churches and charities were overwhelmed. The depression was caused by bad government policy decisions, but this was kept quiet.
After ten years of misery World War II finally pulled society out of the depths. Although President Roosevelt’s social programs had not worked, smart post-war politicians seized credit for the cure.
With the long-awaited upturn in the economy people’s skepticism dissolved. They began to trust government as solver of social problems. This blind trust misleads citizens even today, 75 years later. The vital second half of “trust but verify” dissolved along with the skepticism.
As the economy leaped ahead trusting citizens permitted extended high taxes. Public officials tapped into the new mother lode. Shiploads of money came into government every day with almost no accountability due to control of information.
The arrival of television in the late 1940s was perfectly timed for politicians. They immediately set about honing their telegenic skills. Shortly afterward they realized TV’s potential to distract viewers from what government was doing.
Some of these shiploads of money were bribes from special-interest groups coming thru lobbyists. More came from contractual kickbacks and naïve citizens’ donations to re-election campaigns.
As time passed surplus re-election funds gradually found their way into politicians’ pockets. Each new congressman quickly learned how to game the system. Thus the old public-spirited public servant faded into history, to be replaced by the career politician (see Pocket Gofer 3 to grasp the full magnitude of this tragedy).
Even today these officials do not see themselves as thieves, but that is the reality. There is a reason why a section of northwest Washington, DC has become the nation’s wealthiest community.
As their wealth continued to increase over decades, there evolved an elite class in Washington. Career politicians and bureaucrats gradually became time servers instead of public servants.
Forward progress in society was dangerous as it might rock the boat. The desire to maintain the present cushy arrangement with no changes took hold: planned gridlock.
Both major candidates in the fall 2008 presidential campaign preached change; both knew the people wanted it. Admittedly, the Bush administration’s record left something to be desired. Nevertheless the candidates were influencing only unthinking citizens.
As the 112th congress began its work in January 2011 the hype emphasized bipartisan cooperation in order to solve the crisis and move the nation forward. The kicker here is that this is just hype. The truth lies in gridlock by design. Life in Washington has become so posh that no looter wants to change anything.
When the natives get restless just pass some measure that gives the appearance of solving the problem. Hype the measure but tell the news media please don’t check up on results later. The suckers will keep sending money.
Growth of government power and wealth eventually became the only goal. Thus the proof: Society vs. Government. Blindly trusting citizens have indirectly asked for it, but there is nothing indirect about what they got. Pocket Gofer 16 elaborates.
Alcoholics and other drug addicts pay and pay as they become slaves to their habits. Their lives are reduced to the point where they are completely dependent on drugs; they lead a miserable life.
Ever since the Great Depression unthinking citizens have looked to BIG GOVERNMENT for solutions to their problems. But this only encourages government to become ever bigger, more overbearing and paternalistic as new laws and regulations are piled on top of existing ones. Lawyers love it.
Gradually the people find the dead hand of government weighing heavily on their wallets and purses. They are becoming more and more dependent on and seemingly addicted to BIG BROTHER. Like alcoholics, they become more miserable.
Maverick Congressman Ron Paul: “Our government was originally designed to protect our liberties, but it has now instead become the usurper of those liberties.” Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Eisenhower warned of this exact development. They were not the only ones.
Without accountability human nature guarantees that the situation will only get worse down the road. The tax man will only continue to bleed the public. The deception and thievery will only get worse.
In his 1950 fictional book entitled 1984 George Orwell coined the term “Big Brother.” This term described a bloated, intrusive government that had brainwashed “proles” (ordinary citizens) to believe that “Freedom is Slavery.” These people had forgotten the true meaning of freedom and their children never knew it.
In the real world Adolf Hitler is considered one of history’s most talented brainwashers. If he had had television as an ally he might well have realized his dream of world conquest. He once said, “What luck for rulers! That men don’t think (emphasis added).”
Today young people dependent on government are prevented from becoming fully adult. They cannot exercise the freedom of choice that goes hand in hand with democracy.
Big Government and lawyers restrict their freedom. The 9/11 attacks greatly increased these restrictions as power-seeking top officials jumped on an opportunity dumped into their laps.
Encouraged by parents, young ones fly the nest only to find they cannot easily cope with conditions in the outside world. Many soon return home.
But parental guidance is hindered by big government. Parents have themselves been denied the opportunity to become fully adult, seize initiatives, make decisions and live with the consequences.
Citizens have gradually become a nation of sheep with government as the shepherd. Ben Franklin forecasted this sad development in 1787. He was not alone in this.
Unless something is done and soon the greater society will be paying for slavery. Citizens must kick the habit. Jefferson: “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” The IRS springs to mind.
A gift from France in 1886, the Statue of Liberty still stands in New York harbor. A bronze plaque bears an inscription of Emma Lazarus’s poem: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.”
From that time forward that statue was the first recognizable vision for new immigrants arriving by ship and entering the New World. Having suffered for decades beneath the thumbs of European BIG GOVERNMENTS, they anxiously awaited the opportunity to taste the fruits of freedom.
From before 1886 until the Great Depression in the 1930s public officials in Washington feared the wrath of the citizens. That was then ……….
Nearly everyone agrees that some government is necessary. So there follows three towering questions:
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How much government is optimal?
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This determined and in place, how can it be kept at that size? and
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Who will accept that crucial responsibility on a continuing basis? PG15 elaborates.
Someone said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Human nature cannot be repealed and government cannot operate without people. Therefore the search for effective responses to all three questions above takes on an extreme urgency.
This urgency becomes even more extreme when citizens realize that as they go on denying, delaying and downplaying the dark side of human nature is guaranteed to make the situation still worse. Silver-tongued career politicians’ will not help. They live on the elite side of the huge barrier that alienates them from the proles.
Recall Thomas Paine: “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Conditions in King George III’s colonies had by 1774 become even worse than they are today after the reign of the recent King George (who left office in January 2009). The colonists had no choice but to resort to bloodshed in order to win their treasured liberty.
Today’s citizens still retain the option of displacing the enemy within without violence. The paramount question is: for how long will this option remain available?
“Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die,” goes the saying among peasants. Members of the elite class warble a similar tune but with a variation: “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will retire with fat flabby pensions courtesy of the taxpayer.”
How fat, how flabby? It is possible for a young member of the House of Representatives to retire at age 30 after two years with a pension of $15,000 per month. That’s $180,000 per year. He/she may live to age 100 as achieving this milestone will be common 70 years from now.
At this point a thinking taxpayer is probably tapping figures into a calculator. If he/she does this for age 100 at death the hypothetical young congressman will take in roughly $12,600,000, and that omits cost-of-living adjustments.
Excluding $45,000 of taxpayer-financed perks, a member’s salary is about $162,000 per year, which is less than his pension. Adding to the above his/her two years of “service,” the grand total is $12,924,000. That’s $6,462,000 per year in office and for only one member.
Now, this is an extreme case. Over the long term most members stay in office for a full career and collect bribes and kickbacks as they gain more power in Congress. Sticking to pensions, they probably take in roughly 2/3 of that $6.4 mil, or $4,300,000 per year (pensions increase with length of service). Some of this loot goes toward re-elections, but not all.
These are the same folks who recently squawked the loudest about Wall Street bonuses. Harangues like this are often used to distract citizens from thinking about what is being done to them by public officials.
Wall Street superbrains operate in the private sector where any one of them might get fired tomorrow. They cannot force people to pay them so they must earn most if not all their money and the taxpayer pays a little of what they earn only if he/she owns investments.
The typical taxpaying senior Joe/Jane may want to think about congressional pensions as he deposits his $1,200 monthly Social Security check. By the sweat of his brow he earned a substantial portion of this money, and his employers kicked in about the same amount.
Multiply that check by 12 months and the product is $14,400 per year or less than the monthly pensions of his public servants. These “servants” paid nearly nothing into their social security accounts when compared with workers in the private sector. (Multiply all the above by about 1.2 for senators.)
The taxpayer may not stop there. He could go on to accurately conclude that members of the congress are a pack of thieves. Finally, he might think about his children and grandchildren who will be forced to pay the pensions of retired congressmen whom they have never heard of and from whom they get no benefits.
Most citizens who think society is not at grave risk have children. They should think again.
Today the economy is sliding down a huge slippery slope. Including very recent further commitments of taxpayer money, the $11 trillion national debt is now over $20 trillion. And the end is still nowhere in sight: estimates of future contingent obligations (may have to pay) range up to around $60 trillion.
Former Comptroller General David Walker travels around the nation warning citizens about mass tragedy in the future unless something is done about that debt. During November 2009 there were about 15 people in Washington DC dressed to look like Uncle Sam. Each panhandled passersby with “I want YOU to give me $12 trillion.” (Seniors remember posters of Uncle Sam during World War II with the slogan “I want YOU for the US Army.”)
The government announced that the budget deficit for fiscal 2009 was $1.4 trillion, which is a new record by far. Every year the deficit gets tacked onto the debt. And that does not include President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package.
To all this Mr. Walker adds estimated future long-term obligations (mostly off-budget) of somewhere around $50 trillion. But even this is not the end. Recall those 70 million baby boomers who are retiring as this is being written.
By this time readers are probably rolling their eyes. If they have children they should not do this. They should be thinking about what a huge and meddling government has done and is doing to them. The natural and long-standing parental desire for their children to have it better than they had has been placed in serious jeopardy.
About a third of this gigantic debt is held by foreigners who at any time could conclude that they probably won’t be paid. Then they would refuse to lend more and demand payment of what is owed.
This “run on the bank” could cause the entire US economy to collapse. This mass tragedy would make the current messes on Wall Street and Main Street seem like single-aspirin headaches.
In such a dire emergency the government might try to inflate its way out of the mess. If it cranks up the printing press to warp speed the purchasing power of the dollar would drop like a stone.
While attempting to prop up the dollar interest rates would have to go way high. This would increase the cost of paying interest on the debt and thus increase the budget deficit. The result would be a vicious cycle called a debt trap by economists. That could cause the world’s largest economy to default on its obligations.
Citizens’ values and interests vary all over the psychic map, and the elite class knows this. Members also know that citizens share a common interest, which is good government.
But it is in the members’ interest to make it very difficult for the peasants to organize and assert their interest. Good government for the rabble (as the elite class perceives the taxpaying public) is not good government for the elitists. They have stashed away enough abroad to sail through any financial collapse.
The only solution lies in an organized, thinking and active citizenry that demands good government. Hence the need for the elitists to place obstacles in its way. Here is an observation that may move society toward a viable solution.
Citizens today are disgusted with being forced thru taxes to support an arrogant and deceptive monster in Washington, DC. Those who think would be interested in discussing a proposed plan for government that eliminates today’s three most overbearing and abusive bureaucracies: the IRS, the Congress and, eventually, the Pentagon. THINKERS OF AMERICA, UNITE!!