Faith in government

The attack on government at every level is unending.  As others have pointed out, this is not new.  During the late 60s, protesters railed against both the Johnson and Nixon adminsistrations.  Today we have the tea parties demonstrating agains the government takeover of the United States.

In both times we experienced a dramatic decline in our faith in government.  But these time are different and more dangerous.  The loss of faith in government is occurring at a time when our economy is at its lowest point since the Great Depression.  For many Americans, the only source of support they have is support provided by unemployment insurance, a government program.

I believe, however, that the loss of faith in government goes much deeper.  It is, in fact, a loss of faith in those who are in power to provide needed national leadership.  In his book, The Power Elite, Charles Wright Mills articulated that political, industrial, academic, and military positions of leadership represent an elite that is driving and control public and economic policy.

Any even casual examination of recent history will find many of the same players regardless of the party in power.  There are those who suggest we are headed toward socialism, and they may be correct, but it is a socialism that is rooted in plutocracy .  Now I wish that this was government by a Disney character, but unfortunately its root is the Roman God Pluto, the god of the underworld and its riches.  Plutocracy, then, it government by those who hold wealth.

It is no accident that as a candidate from either party rises in the polls, the donations from wealthy interests moves to the projected winner.  Time and again politicians make the argument that their decisions are not influenced by campaign contributions.  But this is simply semantic parsing to avoid what the contributions do accomplish. 

The principle driving force behind government policy is access.  Wealth and contributions afford access.  Common sense alone tells us that what someone believes and does will be fundamentally shape but what he is exposed to.  If the circles in which the politicians walk are always the circles of the wealthy, then they will make decisions that are in tandem with what supports the needs of those with wealth.

Rightly or wrongly, the Supreme Court recently ruled to allow corporate campaign finance, ultimately widening the access doorway to the wealthy.  How does this all go back to the loss of fairth in government?  At some level most of us recognize that the government is not some sort of neutral entity operating separate and appart on behalf of constiuencies.  It is an entity that is at best a collaborator with the other members of the "Power Elite."  What we have seen in recent years is the failure of that group at every level:  failed government, failed industries, and failed military strategy.

These were not simply mistakes, but profound errors in judgement and ethics that have taken the United States and much of the rest of the world to the brink.