My Peace City | nonviolence & social change

The government is a big, bureaucratic, bullying monster that wants to take your hard earned money and give it to that panhandling drunk so he can go buy more booze. Conservatives are the heroes who want to chop off its tentacles before it consumes us all, while liberals are the conspirators who want to keep feeding it our hard earned money.

I’ve heard it all before, especially during campaign season. Which is why it is now important to step back from it all and ask: what is the purpose of government? Is it indeed our foe, or is it really our friend? The answer to these questions depends on which social class you are in. If consider yourself in the middle class, consider this. The middle class, as we know it today, is historically a recent invention. It was created when peasants grew tired of a system of so few owning so much. They organized revolutions which in turn created governments (called democracies) that protected their interests. The governments did this by setting the rules of business so that working people could, inter alia, earn a living wage and organize into unions. Governments acted as the referee who enforces the rules of the game so that it isn’t rigged and is fair for everyone. Thus, it was the government’s job to maintain the middle class that it created.

The same is true now as it was then. When government fails to do this, the stronger team naturally invents ways to exploit the weaker team so that it can always win. The result is that the middle class gets squeezed between the masses of the lower class and the power of the upper class.

Throughout our history, the middle class has been squeezed three times. The first was from the 1880’s through the Great Depression. The second was during the 1980’s, and the third is right now. It is no coincidence that during these three time periods, the conservative “free market”, “laissez-faire” mantra ran the nation. Conservatives who run on this platform are serving the interests of the upper class, who don’t want the government intervening in the “game,” i.e. the free market. The upper class doesn’t need to be told how much to pay their employees and they certainly don’t need to spread any of that wealth around. During the 1950s and 60s, when the middle class was its strongest, the top tax rate was 91%, and this stayed up to 70% until the Reagan administration slashed taxes.

It’s no wonder the wealthy don’t like government, and want someone in office who will cut their taxes and stay out of their business. I would too if I were being taxed that high. But I’m not wealthy. I’m in the middle class. I rely on the government to loan me money for college, to provide public transit so I can get to work, and to maintain national parks so I have a place to vacation.

So when I see conservatives behind podiums touting their policies of extending tax cuts to the upper class and slashing government programs, it just doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. When they paint the picture of the government monster, I just don’t see it. Perhaps if I were Wall Street hedge fund manager, I would understand what they are trying to paint. But for me, what others perceive as a foe is really my friend. So the next time you see the conservatives up there with the paint brush, ask yourself: Is this thing really a monster? Or is it actually my friend?