An indictment of excessive government
The existence of diverse and differing viewpoints used to be seen by society as an asset, allowing us to sharpen our own beliefs, test our own hypotheses, and create balance that gave us the ability to coexist, if not always in perfect peace with one another, at least in some sense of stability. Today, too many have become convinced that the mere presence of opposite views to one’s own is a real and existential threat to one’s survival.
Perhaps this sense of impending peril that comes from the idea of ideologically opposite people entering positions of power is a side-effect of another issue altogether: the common urge to ask government officials to exert political power over others on their behalf. This is something that both sides of the ideological spectrum are guilty of. The reason it is so terrifying for the opposite political party to hold power is that we, as Americans, have given our government powers it should never have had in the first place, powers that allow it to make monumental and completely unaccountable decisions that affect the everyday life of its citizens in no small way.
To those who do not have much exposure to perspectives opposite of their own, there are vastly different opinions about the role of government. But on the rare occasion when you find somebody willing to listen, it is possible to pull back the curtain and show them that the problem is not party. It’s power, and the letter next to a candidate’s name on a ballot is irrelevant.
The inefficiencies of government are so ubiquitous that it seeps into common, everyday parlance as a joke, but every joke has some seriousness to it. In the case of political humor, it’s funny because it’s true. It is a sad commentary on our society that we know it’s true and nothing changes. There are countless phrases that are sad-but-true indictments of government. Examples are “Good enough for government work” when you mean it’s not very good, but it’ll do. Or “If it ain’t broke, fix it ‘til it is” to refer to government meddling where it shouldn’t and creating more problems than it solves. Or a famous example, the words of Ronald Reagan when he said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” True, most of these phrases you’ll find in the vernacular of a conservative or a Republican, as critiques of government inefficiency do tend to come more from the right than the left.
But this may be because those on the left aren’t often exposed to the inefficiencies of the big, bumbling government for which they advocate and vote. I had the opportunity recently to watch the journey of a self-identified “very liberal” person trying to navigate the convoluted, expensive, and highly inefficient Covered California process for obtaining medical coverage. Their frustration at the process has been hard to watch, as they are a person I care greatly about. It has, however, revealed to them that the well-meaning efforts to improve medical coverage for Californians have been all but counteracted by the bureaucratic nightmare that this process has created.
When meaningfully exposed to the tenets of classical liberalism (which translates loosely to contemporary “small-L” libertarianism), many liberals find themselves identifying more as a left-of-center libertarian than a Democrat, especially given the mismanagement and extremism present in the current Democratic Party. Likewise, a growing number of Republicans feel abandoned by a Republican party that no longer values small, limited government and chooses demagoguery over principled representation. Taken together, this presents an opportunity to unite the middle against the extremes and push government back into the confines of a body whose sole and only purpose is to protect the rights of the people as opposed to interfering with their lives and livelihoods.
Let’s recap. What can most of us agree on? Political power should not be used to harm people. Government should protect the rights of the people, not trample them. Big government is inefficient. Political parties perpetuate division. The people have more power than they realize. We are more similar than we are different. Together, we can restore our republic.