By Andy Brack
For the last two decades, there’s been a steady drumbeat of conservative messaging about how bad government is. But there’s not been much of a concerted effort to counteract the negativity.
Part of it’s human nature because it’s way easier to believe something bad about a person, program or effort than it is to use critical thinking skills to dispel what doesn’t make sense. And with everybody and his brother thinking they know how to really research something when most of them just pass along the latest social media trash, faith in government institutions has waned.
It hasn’t helped that the people now in charge from the president through the GOP in Congress and many state legislatures seem to simply hate government – or disrespect enough of what our founding fathers did to be the world’s biggest hypocrites.
And to top all of that off, the loyal opposition – the Democratic Party – does such a poor, milquetoast job of messaging that it’s no wonder the nation is in a fix.
So try to step back and think about what government – local, state and national – does to make your life better everyday:
Internet: Yep, government created it to free the flow of information. It also has made everyone a publisher and led to dark channels of rhetoric, misinformation and lies that hurt freedom. Yes, the internet works, thanks to government, but its unfettered openness helped to erode the foundations of democracy.
Military: America invests more in military spending ($997 billion) than the other nine countries in the top 10 of military spending ($985 billion). That means our defense spending tops the combined coffers of China, Russia, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France and Japan.
Interstates: The nation’s Interstate highway system allows for comparatively quick travel between major metropolitan areas and is buttressed by the system of federal roads in between. All are paid for by the government. These roads connect people and markets, just as government-funded airports and ports do.
Satellites: Enjoy the Weather Channel, cable TV or Google Maps? Remember a government program launched satellites for weather, communications and mapping. And President Trump is threatening these – which makes no sense.
Our government makes a daily difference in our lives, from protecting our food and water supplies to educating our children and to keeping our communities safe.
Today, those functions are commonplace. We assume they’ll be there and too often forget how hard it was to build their infrastructure.
A dozen years ago in a book titled “Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government,” now-Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom described how people often are oblivious about how enriched their lives are by government because “government doesn’t have an official PR department to help burnish its image.”
Well before Trump was a candidate, Newsom wrote, “When ordinary people feel politics is irrelevant, the whole Jeffersonian model of democracy is in peril. We’re becoming a government of the elites, the opposite of what our forefathers intended, and the opposite of what has historically made America strong.”
So here’s a challenge: Think seriously about how government positively impacts you and then start thinking more critically about the blather being shifted from one channel to one post in the media. Question that information. Maybe then, you’ll start appreciating how government is a civilizing force – and that’s why it scares so many who are trying to destroy it.
“Government is us,” Newsom wrote in 2013. “It’s the police officer, soldier, educator, IT worker, secretary, lawyer or engineer who lives next door. Helping people realize that would be a great first step in cutting through the disdain and mistrust people have for government today.”
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
