A few weeks ago, before my GOP-for-life father and I stopped speaking to each other, one of the last things he told me was that as far as he was concerned taxes could be cut a great deal more than they already have been because government is simply too big. In his opinion, the larger government got (here he meant government at all levels: state, local and federal) the less he got in return for his taxes.
The standard GOP line right? More taxes = bigger, more ineffective government.
That got me thinking about how government impacts all of us, and specifically how it benefited my father during the course of his lifetime, which began in 1930, the first year of the Great Depression. Here's the first part of the letter I wrote to him about this (more parts to follow over the weekend):
More after the fold . . .
Dear Dad,
You remember what you said about big government being a cancer? About how it wastes your tax dollars, dollars that would be better off in your own two hands being spent for what you wanted rather than in the hands of some bureaucrat? That, in your mind, government hadn't been particularly helpful in your life? That your own hard work had been the reason for your success, not government handouts?
Well, you might recall that we didn't agree on that point. Since that time I've done a lot of thinking about what government at all levels does and has done for folks, and specifically what it has done to benefit you and your family over the course of your lifetime. I'd like to share them with you, if I may.
Public Education:
Dad, your family was literally dirt poor. When you were born your father didn't even own his own farm, he was a sharecropper, renting farmland from someone else in exchange for a percentage of the crops he grew each season. Without public education that's where you would still probably be today.
Local Public Schools
Your home state and county funded the elementary and high school you attended, and paid the salaries of the teachers who encouraged you to stay in school when your own father thought it was a waste of time. Remember how he used to give you beatings because you were at school and wasn't around to help him on the farm? Those teachers supported you in your desire to learn, and encouraged you to believe that you could go to college when no one in your family had ever done that before. Those government employees -- your teachers -- why Dad, they literally changed your life, and the lives of your family, by seeing your potential and making sure you had the opportunity to realize it.
Land Grant Universities
When you did attend college, you attended two State Universities, colleges that wouldn't have existed without the support of state and federal revenues, and which were originally created pursuant to federal legislation under which federal land was granted to the states to establish low cost public institutions of higher learning. The presence of those colleges made it possible for millions of lower and middle class people to obtain a college education, something which was out of reach for all but the wealthiest families before they were created.
GI Bill
Then, when you did attend college, you were able to pay for your education because you were fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of the GI Bill. As a Korean War era veteran, the GI bill paid for your tuition, fees and books, even though the closest you came to combat was at the rifle range at the base in El Paso where you were stationed.
The monies you received under the GI bill gave you the opportunity to ultimately obtain a doctorate in your chosen profession.
Why, without those big government education programs, Dad, you'd still be down on the farm, literally. You'd have had a far different, far harder life, than the one you live now.
More Government Benefits: Your Kids
But of course, those government programs didn't just help you, they also helped your five children. All five of us attended public school from Kindergarten through 12th grade, an education that wouldn't have been possible if you'd have had been required to pay our tuition and fees at private schools. Then we all attended colleges and universities that were part of state university systems, colleges that owed their continued existence to state and federal funding. Colleges that were affordable, unlike the private universities.
Student Loan Programs
And to top it all off, each of your kids and you participated in federal student loan programs, whereby we obtained low cost, low interest loans to cover the costs of higher education that even together (via your savings and the money we made working summers and part-time during school) we couldn't have afforded otherwise. Loans for which none of us could have qualified in the absence the government's guarantee to our lenders.
And that worked out pretty well, didn't it? We all graduated with various four year degrees in the arts and sciences, and three of us went on to obtain post-graduate degrees, including one Ph.D., two MBA's and one J.D. What's more, because of the educational opportunities we had, we all obtained good jobs with salaries ultimately exceeding $100,000 per annum. Pretty good for a lowly farm kid and his family, don't you agree? And all of it, every step of the way was only made possible because of the government assistance that you and we received.
Housing:
Today, over 68% of all adult Americans own their own home, but when you were born in 1930, Dad, less than half of all Americans owned their own home. You were born to a family that didn't own its own home. But with a little help from a friend, you were able to afford one of your own.
VA Loan Program
When you purchased your first home Dad, you were still a graduate student working toward your doctorate. You didn't have much savings, and neither your parents or Mom's had a nest egg to lend you either. So, how did you do it? Simple, really. The federal government came to your rescue. You were able to finance your home purchase thanks to the VA mortgage program. You didn't need a big down payment for your first home because the federal government guaranteed your loan.
FHA and other Federal Loan Programs
In similar fashion, many other Americans relied on federal programs such as FHA and FmHA to finance the purchase or construction of housing. Not only did this benefit individual homeowners, but also people who invested in apartment buildings (such as you and your various partners) by offering emergency financing to stabilize the housing market and help ameliorate inflation and energy costs during the 1970's and 1980's. I'm pretty sure you also took advantage of these programs when purchasing rental properties for investment purposes.
National Flood Insurance
Another federal programs that helps increase the construction and sale of housing units across the country is the National Flood Insurance Program. This program helps to limit the extent of flood damage, while also making low cost insurance available to homeowners and other property owners to help them rebuild in the event of flood damage. I know for a fact that you've owned properties covered under this program.
State and Local Laws
Of course, it wasn't just the federal government that helped you. State and local governments did that part as well to maintain property values through the application of local zoning laws, building codes, environmental monitoring and other health and safety regulations related to real estate.
I know you see a lot of this as needlessly burdensome, but in fact most of these laws work to your benefit by helping to create a real estate market that is relatively aboveboard and fair to both buyers and sellers. Further, by insuring that greater numbers of people can participate in that market than would otherwise occur, government intervention actually increases market opportunities for people like you.
Naturally, the benefit to society at large, economically and culturally, of having the vast majority of Americans own their own homes is inestimable. The effects of these programs helped grow the construction and banking industries, created jobs, and increased local tax bases to help pay for schools and other local government services. Just imagine what our country would have been like if the Federal Government hadn't stepped up after WWII to help create and sustain the housing boom. More than likely, you own financial situation would be far less rosy than it is today, because the opportunity for you to invest in real estate would have been far more limited.