Is the Government Off Our Backs Yet?

John Funiciello of the Black Commentator posted an article titled Is the Government Off Our Backs Yet?

For decades, politicians on the right has been: “Get the government off our backs.” An anti-government, anti-tax advocate said, "I want to halve the size of government in 25 years and get it down to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub.” The current economic meltdown in the U.S. and around the world is proof enough that they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Deregulation and wild speculation with other people’s money that came with deregulation are the main reasons for the financial crisis in America, but the problem goes back far beyond that. There has been a recent salmanella outbreak that killed about 8 people and made hundreds ill. The reason why corporations were not inspected before the outbreak was because there were not enough inspectors. The reason for not having enough inspectors? Budget cuts that reduced staff. This reduction of government oversight goes back many years, but a shocking example was the explosion and fire at Imperial Foods, a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, N.C., in September, 1991. Twenty-five workers died and more than four dozen were seriously injured, many never to completely recover. The reason for the catastrophe? Many of the doors were locked, some from the outside, to prevent the theft of chicken. Some workers knew the danger of the closed doors, but the jobs were so valuable to them that they didn’t complain in that community of less than 7,000. Ronald Reagan was elected president and one of his main themes was: “Don’t look to government to solve your problems. Government is the problem.” With that kind of attitude about the efficacy of government, where could workers go but down? Mortgages, savings, and investments of ordinary citizens were going to be affected by this mass deregulation that took place over so many years that it all seemed normal. Wage workers didn’t recognize that their welfare was tied to the government operating on an even ensuring that the institutions of the private sector were functioning in a fair, efficient, and honest manner. With deregulation of banking and finance - and with two wars of choice that drained the economy even further over the past eight years - the U.S. economy has gone into a tailspin and it has taken the rest of the world with it. If America is to recover from this assault, it will be the people who will be the instrument of the recovery. Predatory capitalism will have to retreat to its cave for the foreseeable future and let a naturally industrious people prove that local and regional production of the goods necessary for life is possible. Finally, the people will prove that they can govern themselves, without the controlling hand of corporations and their lobbyists.

I very much agree with this article. The government doesn't do enough to help the U.S. and protect them. They're always worried about money and they only think about themselves and not about the health of the U.S. The economy is important but health is more important.