Whatever your politics, current discussions might be informed by examining the proper role of government. Briefly set aside the rule-making function, and think for a moment about “government does together what people cannot do for themselves.”
Some examples are our infrastructure: roads, bridges, airports, and the national park system; fire departments and criminal apprehension agencies, even with all their faults.
When government strays beyond that, don’t we get into all sorts of trouble? For example, Prohibition (on sale of recreational alcohol) was an attempt to uphold family values, which ended up in all sorts of unintended consequences. It took a Constitutional amendment to enact Prohibition, and then another Constitutional Amendment to dismantle it. According to a historian who spoke on the subject at Catholic Eldercare recently, permanent damage was done in this 13-year “grand misadventure” of social engineering. It essentially handed over the entire liquor industry to what had been small-time, local criminals, they organized in order to handle it, and that “organized crime” structure endures today.
Another Constitutional amendment contains a few simple words enacted in 1864 that, according to the recent documentary “13th,” are responsible for prisons becoming an industry and continuing to effectively enslave of black men, in particular, through unequal enforcement of nuisance violation laws. The words of the 13th amendment are (emphasis added in italics): “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
The documentary makes the case that after civil rights legislation was enacted to right those wrongs and others, opposing forces doubled down, resulting in a war on drugs (which even president Bill Clinton got swept up in supporting) that then kept the prisons full. The industries behind those prisons, or those that benefited from cheap labor contracted through them, continued calling the shots.
President Obama’s drive to get health insurance for all Americans — was that an example of government doing together what individuals could not do on their own? Yes, unfortunately the Affordable Care Act was necessary because the insurance companies driving the system made health care something only the employed, or those with no pre-existing conditions, or the rich, could count on.
We’ve seen what happens when an industry is immune to most regulation. In one of the earliest examples, our federal forefathers gave sovereignty to the railroads so they could settle our country from coast to coast, and now we complain because their businesses transport dangerous oil through densely populated areas.
What, really, can we not do for ourselves? As each of the utilities developed – water, electric, gas, telephone, cable television, our governments determined how to get these things done, either by going into that business, or by making a monopoly/franchise deal with a company. As time has marched on, some are questioning even that model.
Now, let’s examine government as rule-maker.
In each realm of law there are some basics that codify common sense and the golden rule, and piled on top of that may be exceptions that favor a particular portion of the public, the otherwise disadvantaged, or special interests. From loopholes to “donut holes” (Medicare), there’s such a patchwork of laws that it’s tempting to say let’s just throw it all away and get back to basics.
Because individual freedom is democracy’s key principal (and besides, it’s tough to enforce every single law all the time), much is done to incentivize behaviors that are seen as good for society. Where does incentive leave off and prescription set in? Is there a right prescription?
When life was simpler, almost everyone could at least have shelter and food for themselves and their families on the farms and in the small towns that served them. Charity came in the form of adopting kids who lost their parents to illness or accident, and community-chest collections for the worst off. Widows took in boarders, there was no stigma for working with your hands, and simple illnesses thinned out the weak and old.
Today’s drives for higher minimum wages, mandatory sick leave pay and paid family leave aim to return us to that basic unit of self-support (do for oneself), but even our newspaper sees those measures as prescription, and we’ve questioned whether that’s the proper role of government.
Has your head exploded yet? This short treatise has raised more questions than we ever purport to answer, and that was deliberate. Americans alive today have seen so many “advances” in technology, health, science and communication. We’ve been offered so many different versions of what’s right and exposed to so many different cultures government can’t keep up with regulating it all. Should government regulate everything?
The dramatic shift from politics as usual, to the election of the first black president, and then another dramatic shift to the election of the first total outsider and political neophyte demonstrates that Americans aren’t unified on the proper role of government, probably because most people don’t think of it in such terms. Let’s avoid further wild pendulum swings. Detailed discussions on the topic of government’s role should help to shed light on what to do next.