You mow your yard and make regular trips to the store to make sure your family necessities are provided. You wash the dishes and clothes and vacuum the carpet to provide sanitary living conditions. These and myriad other obligations you perform routinely without a second thought, but how about taking care of your government?
You know the schedule of your favorite TV shows and the point spreads on upcoming athletic contests, but do you know the name of your U.S. Senator? No and no, you hate politics and they are all crooks anyway. What difference does it make?
Besides, what does government do that I should be concerned about? For your reference here are a few of the things they do:
- Tax and regulate
- Conduct criminal investigations
- Maintain military might
- Conduct foreign policy
- Regulate federal employees
- Conduct intelligence and counter-intelligence activities
- Determine how our tax money will be spent through federal procurement
These are a few of the functions necessary to protect your freedom of speech and a host of other freedoms you may take for granted. Although you may not recall the names of the people in charge, you put them there when you voted.
You glance out the window. It’s bright sunshine and blue skies. In the background, local TV is bringing you the weather report: “…thunderstorms continuing for the rest of the morning followed by heavy overcast and unseasonably cool temperatures.” Who are you going to believe?
National news follows the local weather and you pick up on the word “unhinged” followed by dire predictions about our economic future. Do you believe that? Depends. If that’s all you hear, yeah, pretty much. Verification takes a little more effort than looking out the window.
Why Bother?
Good question. Some people in Boston undoubtedly asked it December 16, 1773 and again at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777. After all, life as a British colonial in America wasn’t all that bad. Could be similar sentiments have been harbored by young men crouching in fox holes around the world since that time.
Authoritarianism is the natural order of things from primitive tribal chiefs to “presidents for life” today. Governing is a lot easier that way. Nascent 18th century democracy was a real leap in social experiments. It had never been done before and it has never been done so well as it has in the last two hundred-plus years in America.
The United States of America dated from ratification of our U.S. Constitution in 1789 is 229 years old. The Roman and Ottoman empires lasted 500 and 600 years, respectively, so there is nothing extraordinary about our age which would pre-ordain our destiny. In fact, government by the governed is inherently unstable. Ignorance is its greatest subversive threat.
The Ignorance Threat
If ignorance is the absence of knowledge, politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum and there are many contenders to fill it. Absent vibrant democratic forces, dictatorship is the default position for governance. And when our focus is overloaded by a kitschy pop culture, authoritarian opportunists are ready to step in.
What happens when that vibrancy fades is described in George Orwell’s “1984,” and “Adrift – A Journey to George Orwell’s 1984” spotlights current trends and from which we get, “Icebergs calve off glaciers in the warming season. They drift and drift with the caprice of ocean currents, finally into warmer water, and they melt. They are gone – forever. No one noticed.” Like dry rot, the loss of personal liberty does not happen overnight.
The years 2009-2016 saw an accelerating drift toward autocratic control in Washington and we were told to get used to a new normal. A flood of regulations bloated the bureaucracy and things were moving according to plan.
2016
Then a fellow who hates apple carts burst on the scene and proceeded to dismantle the previous eight years of deep state constructs. Some people are still having hissy-fits over it and are suffering from chronic TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) while conjuring up zombie apocalypse images to describe his presidency. Here are just a few things President Trump has done:
- Cut taxes
- Created millions of jobs
- Brought manufacturing back to the U.S. from overseas
- Let the international community know that we still have cojones
There is a lot more but you get the drift, and if you want the drift to continue in this direction after his term is over, you have work to do, starting now.
- Learn about the three branches of government and who they are
- Follow the news and not just the mainstream media
- Learn the issues to the extent you can evaluate what someone says and form an opinion
- If you don’t understand something, look it up
Those guys you voted into office for whom you now want term limits are a reflection of you and me. Does that answer the question “Why bother?“
