Why do we humans band together for the greater good?
Why do we give up some our freedoms to coexist and thrive, within the context of this abstract thing, called Government? USA. Canada. European Union. China ...
Why haven't we remained in the unfettered days of the Wild West, where your destiny was solely the result of the strength of your fists and your guns? (Although there is an undercurrent that would have us return to those self-governed days ...)
Think about it. All the complexity; All the compromise; All the baggage and overhead -- that goes along with "Governing." ... Couldn't much of this be better accomplished by leaving us each to our own devices ... To learn to Sink or Swim on our Own?
Rugged Individuals. Survival of the fittest. Your Destiny is your business -- and yours alone.
There are some who think this way. Some who approach "Governing" with that dismantling strategy, as always their ultimate underlying agenda.
They think Government is the problem, not the solution. And they seek to cut, cut, cut that problem. No matter the fallout -- in human pain and suffering. THAT does not concern them, as Governing Representatives. As if, human pain and suffering, were simply some abstract concept too.
Other humans in dire need is NOT their problem. It's simple the luck of the draw. The lack of individual preparedness. The lack of individual fortitude and industry.
As one flash-in-the-pan would-be leader recently put it: "If you're poor in America -- it's your own damn fault!"
This is what were up against -- us proponents of effective governing. Up against that mindset. That mentality. That ingrained lack of compassion.
So I'm here to ask you today,
Why Do We even have a Government, if not for This?
.
.
.
This? The reason Governments are established among like-minded humans?
Compassionate effective solutions. Solutions that find the balance between all the competing interests. Solutions that provide for the "greater good." Solutions that balance our need for freedom with our need for co-existence.
Solutions that only a Government can provide. Only together are we strong enough, to "build a healthy diverse society." Alone, we are not much more than tumbleweeds in the wind.
Life. Is Living supposed to be a brutal struggle, individually fought day after? Or has human-kind risen above such crass animal instincts, finally? Haven't our governing structures been established to provide for everyone in our abstract life-raft? To provide for the "general welfare" for those who have thrown in together in our rag-tag band of united citizens.
As evidence of this "sink or swim" mindset undercurrent seeking to dismantle compassionate government, just recall what a "leader" of the cut government brigade had to say. A proclamation that once shocked those of us still living within the context of a civil society:
After Joplin Tornadoes, Eric Cantor Blocks Fed Disaster Relief
link
I guess the shock has worn off. Because after nearly 70 days since the worse Hurricane in the brief history of East Coast society, these same masters of the Tax-distribution shell game -- simply forgot about -- the on-going human pain and suffering left high and dry, after that latest Extreme Weather event ...
Steven Palazzo votes no on Hurricane Sandy aid
by Deborah Barfield Berry, Malia Rulon, ClarionLedger.com -- Jan 4, 2013
[... pg 2 ]
Rep. John Fleming, R-La., another lawmaker from the Gulf Coast who voted against the measure Friday, said the flood insurance program needs to be reformed so it can stand alone without taxpayer subsidies.
"We are borrowing 46 cents out of every dollar we spend and I can no longer tell the next generation they have to pay for our spending habit," he said. "Unfortunately, my colleagues weren't willing to properly pay for Sandy relief. Had it been paid for, I would have happily voted for it."
The Club for Growth, an advocacy group for low taxes and small government, urged House Republicans to oppose the measure, arguing that the federal government should not be involved in the flood insurance business.
[...]
Sounds like some Club, eh? Their motto:
"Disaster victims be Dammed! You're on you own." Enjoy.
Well the actual
local on-the-ground leaders of the victims, saw this all-too-typical stonewalling and bureaucratic foot-dragging, and they were have none of it:
Christie Takes a Swing at His Party, Possibly Hurting His Political Future
by Michael Powell, cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com -- Jan 3, 2013
[...]
“The House of Representatives failed the most basic test of public service,” he told the press. “It was disappointing and disgusting to watch.”
He was just warming up.
“New York deserves better than the selfishness we displayed last night; New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw last night,” he said. “There’s only one group to blame for the continued suffering: The House majority and their speaker, John Boehner.”
[...]
I guess that "human pain and suffering" is different, when it's
in your own backyard.
Another would-be leader, from a not-so-recent history, had these keen observations on how the cut-government yahoos, are treating those in need in this country called America:
'This Is About Human Beings'
by Gary Hart, huffingtonpost.com -- 01/04/2013
"This is not about politics," said one conservative Republican Congressman, "this is about human beings." Later, a colleague added: "This is not a handout." Both are from New York and both were arguing, and rightly so, for federal aid to areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
But both have participated in harangues about "government spending." Though usually not specified, the spending they wish to curtail includes safety nets (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid), social programs (nutrition, child health care, education and much else), environmental protection and investments, and the list goes on. Though any government program can and should be made as effective as possible, each of these is about human beings and none is a handout.
[...]
What might have been, eh? If it were not for all that monkey business, and ambulance-chasers with cameras ...
Senator Hart has a point. Governing IS about humans beings. Humans beings in dire need. Humans trapped in circumstances of pain and suffering. Most of us have been there at some point in our short lives. And if not, just wait. Climate Change is no respecter of "rugged independence."
Eventually the "luck of the draw" will run out, on even you. On even the haters-of-govenment, with their pension plans, and advocacy group deep-pocket backers. These schmoes still have homes. They still have families. They, like most of us, are utterly dependent on electricity, and most of the other trappings of society, like schools, roads, grocery stores, health care.
It's kind of hard to be happy, when your home has been wrecked, you town has been trashed, and the powers-that-be can't even restore the electric power grid. If these don't fall under providing General Welfare, I don't know what does.
[...]
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter [...]
Why Do We even have a Government, if not for This?
To provide for those in need, in their time of need? To be stronger together, than standing alone.
Even animals do as much, for those in need within their local groups. It's called compassion. It's called belonging. It's called helping the least among us.
How quickly the haters have unlearned these lessons. The pace of retrograde-rollback agenda, is disturbing indeed. I think they're stuck on the "abolish" cause of that declaration. That and their John Wayne mantras. Or is that Rambo version 2.0?