How Big Government Brings Out the Worst in Us
Posted by Mark 10 years, 11 months ago to Government
Ayn Rand believed that government has an appropriate and necessary role, but she decried government that overreaches. I would even say that "big government" brings out the worst in us as human beings. Why is that? It's not because we get angry with a particular administration or party with which we disagree. While we may disagree, that need not bring out the worst in us. It's also not that "big government" is necessarily oppressive and lowers our ability to thrive as productive human beings, though some would argue that the "big government" path is a slippery slope.
I suggest that the government's role as "benefactor to the people" is overreaching. That statement may ring true with the majority in concept, but when it comes down to practice, we find it hard to turn away the patronage of Uncle Sam, especially when the need seems most acute.
My recent experience with Hurricane Sandy is a case in point. My family is from New Jersey and I live in Pennsylvania. The devastation was widespread, but FEMA was there, lending a helping hand. I'm glad, but not very glad. Here's why:
There were several other organizations who wanted to come and many that showed up, but were disenfranchised by the FEMA people writing checks, directing traffic, and turning people away. Don't come! We've got this under control. Granted, it was nice to have the help, but it DID NOT NEED TO BE THE GOVERNMENT. The fact is that there were many people, desiring to help, wanting to exercise benevolence, who were unable to do it. They weren't needed, maybe not even wanted, because the government stepped in and started writing checks.
It's a slippery slope. It starts with groups of volunteers being turned away. What follows is that the determination of the volunteers wanes. Ultimately, opportunities to help go unnoticed. There are myriad reasons to neglect benevolence, and rationalizations abound. Let's not give ourselves one more reason to retreat inward and block out the world. Let's keep government in its place.
Here is something that Objectivists and Christians can both get behind, albeit for different reasons. Do I paint an accurate picture, or do I exaggerate?
I suggest that the government's role as "benefactor to the people" is overreaching. That statement may ring true with the majority in concept, but when it comes down to practice, we find it hard to turn away the patronage of Uncle Sam, especially when the need seems most acute.
My recent experience with Hurricane Sandy is a case in point. My family is from New Jersey and I live in Pennsylvania. The devastation was widespread, but FEMA was there, lending a helping hand. I'm glad, but not very glad. Here's why:
There were several other organizations who wanted to come and many that showed up, but were disenfranchised by the FEMA people writing checks, directing traffic, and turning people away. Don't come! We've got this under control. Granted, it was nice to have the help, but it DID NOT NEED TO BE THE GOVERNMENT. The fact is that there were many people, desiring to help, wanting to exercise benevolence, who were unable to do it. They weren't needed, maybe not even wanted, because the government stepped in and started writing checks.
It's a slippery slope. It starts with groups of volunteers being turned away. What follows is that the determination of the volunteers wanes. Ultimately, opportunities to help go unnoticed. There are myriad reasons to neglect benevolence, and rationalizations abound. Let's not give ourselves one more reason to retreat inward and block out the world. Let's keep government in its place.
Here is something that Objectivists and Christians can both get behind, albeit for different reasons. Do I paint an accurate picture, or do I exaggerate?
Years ago I was white water rafting in West Virginia on one of those guided tours. I was bored to death because there was no real danger, even on the Class 4 rapids. Well, the raft I was on got caught in an eddie and ended up against a rock face. One of the guides from another boat frantically jumped out yelling and screaming directions and I was the only one not following his directions. The idiot got caught under the boat and was drug down the river through the rapids. The boat he left ended up guidless and wrecked down the rapids. The people in my boat stopped rowing and watched in horror at all the antics.
I simply pushed off the rock with my hand and we went down the rapids and parked downstream to help pull everyone out of the river. The guide who was swept downstream was yelling at me for not following his directions which realy pissed me off. So I yelled back, "YOU ARE GUILTY OF MAKING THE SITUATION APPEAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN IT REALLY WAS SO YOU CAN JUSTIFY THE RATES YOU ARE CHARGING..............YOU PUSSY.
He shut up real quick and we didn't speak again the rest of the trip, which was fine with me. I took over as guide and that was the end of the stroy. No more issues.
FEMA is guilty of making the same kind of grand over-reaction not for safety, but for justification of their exsistance. And for that they are very evil.
My experience is more with forest management/park rangers. All the RULES. AAARRRGGHHH! In Colorado, wildfires are a fact of life. However, put a bunch of Dept of the Interior noggins together and we come up with crap like we need to let the forest evolve naturally. So they quit doing certain things, like thinning and spraying. Thousands upon thousands of acres have burned over the last several decades because the forests were disease ridden and weakened, allowing fires to spread quickly out of control. Thousands of acres of pine forests are filled with dead trees due to beetle infestation which could have been easily managed. All the while, every person stepping foot in the forest is presumed guilty of arson or improper campfire containment-finally to the point of not allowing you to have fires at all, and no using your grill at your own house! The largest forest fire in Colorado in the prior decade was started by a FOREST RANGER!
You can't drive through almost any national park in the west without seeing acres upon acres of scarred, scorched earth due to "natural" forest management policy. you sit in the vistor center and hear lectures about how proud they are of how quickly mother nature reforests and in a few decades, right as rain. Then you get told about how bad humans are and how they alter pristine nature. So follow the 500 page rule book or you'll be fined, jailed or both. Wasn't there a time when a cardboard Smokey the Bear was enough?