Responsible Government Needed

December 08, 2005

Responsible Government Needed

Parents have a responsibility to convince their children to do many things that are not fun or give immediate gratification, but are necessary for the children's long term benefit such as eating vegetables, studying, or saving money. Governments have a similar responsibility to convince their citizens to do things that are not necessarily popular, and the success of the government is sometimes a result of how good they are at doing this. Weak governments can easily dodge this responsibility and are lured into doing what is popular, leading to trouble. One example is paying taxes. It takes a fortune to run a great country, but taxes are unpopular, and it is easy to get elected by promising to lower taxes. The political consequence is normally that government services are reduced. Another popular thing to do is to rattle sabers in the international sphere. It makes people feel that their country is mighty, and this reflects on the citizens, who might say something like: "Yea, we can kick their butts." But the consequence of war is often incredibly painful as people get killed, governments collapse, and countries are overrun. Another example would be to neglect to prepare for shortages of some critical resource, such as food, water, or in the modern world, energy.

No government can fully live up to all of its responsibility, but the underlying strength of the society will usually manage to overcome the shortfalls. It's rare to find a government that is entirely negligent in asking its citizens to contribute to the common good and to prepare for the future, but the current Administration and Congress, led by the far right of the Republican Party has been shockingly irresponsible in carrying out any preparation for the future.

These lapses would ordinarily cause a political penalty, but for this Administration, a fortuitous collection of factors have sheltered it from the consequences of gross pandering. For example consider the Administration's determination to lower taxes. Normally, this would result in a reduction of government services. But today, countries such as China and Saudi Arabia are awash in American dollars and are willing to finance federal budget deficits at low interest. Therefore, painful cuts that should accompany tax cuts are not necessary. The Administration is able to defer the pain for a later government while taking the benefit now. Unfortunately, this pain is likely to come when the economy is faltering for some other reason, such as energy shortages. This is highly irresponsible.

Take another example, starting a war without provocation. The Administration started a war with insufficient justification and without a plan for winning the peace. They went against the judgment of the international community, and alienated our allies by telling them 'you are either with us or against us.' They removed a toothless dictator but did not plan or prepare to build an entirely new Iraqi nation. Now, the political consequences are being felt. Fortunately, our armed forces are so vastly superior that there isn't much danger of them suffering a military defeat. But our young men and women have been placed in an impossible situation where their very presence engenders the kind of national resentment that fuels the insurgency and feeds into international terrorism. Even this week, President Bush again stooped to evoking a fabricated link between the tragic attacks of 9/11 and Iraq to rally support for his war. This is irresponsible and deceitful.

Another example of this Administration's irresponsibility is allowing and even encouraging us to become more and more dependent upon oil. Our society depends on cheap oil. Our economy will utterly collapse without it, and yet, there is significant evidence that the era of cheap oil will end soon. Worldwide oil production appears to be at the peak just when oil consumption is increasing at an exponential rate worldwide. It will take time, a decade or more, for our infrastructure to become efficient and to adapt to alternative energy sources, and yet, indications are that cheap oil could end quickly and suddenly. Yet, no preparations are made despite the fact that the United States has the technology and resources to replace oil. This is incredibly irresponsible.

This Administration and the Republican right have used fear and greed, appealing to our basest instincts in order to gain power, and yet has no plan for our nation's long term well being. They are putting our nation at great risk for short term political gain. They have been successful so far in avoiding the consequences for their irresponsible behavior. This luck will not last forever. It's time for true conservatives to stand up with moderates and progressives for the sake of our country. Politicians need to start leveling with the American people. Some sacrifice is necessary for this country to build a prosperous and secure future. The benefit of a collective decision to carry out the changes needed would be immense. We will transform society to assure a clean, productive, healthy, and secure future and inspire the rest of the world to follow suit. The consequences of ignoring these problems will also be immense and possibly catastrophic. It's our responsibility to lay out the current situation, the risks and the alternatives and let the American people decide. The truth matters.

- Jerry McNerney

http://weblog.jerrymcnerney.com/2005/12/responsible_gov.html