Febraury 2003

Who Gives a Shit About the Future?

Handing out school vouchers. Farming out federal workers to the private sector. Privatizing Medicare. Deregulation of the television industry. What are those actions? They are part the legacy of the Reagan Administration. You remember President Reagan, right? He's the asshole who commuted ex-Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel's prison sentence for bribery in 1981 (for us Marylanders, it matters), fired a ton of air-traffic controllers because he could, traded arms for hostages with Iran (the same country which funded the 1983 bombing of US Marine barracks in Beirut), militarily supported Iraq (our current #1 enemy, then in a war with Iran, who, as we've said, was also provided with weaponry) and who's administration netted five felony convictions. Republicans love to mention Reagan. He makes them feel superior. Because he played a cowboy in the movies or something. We don't really know. Or maybe because, like his supporters, Reagan believed in keeping our psychologically traumatized veterans living under bridges.

In his name, Republicans still push for less regulation of businesses. Their logic tells them that people with power and money can be trusted to do what's right and fair with their power and money. 'The Market', which they love as if it were Jesus himself, makes right. Whenever possible, they try to give critical Government regulated or operated industries to 'the Market'. Supply and demand take care of everything. It's very neat, in theory.

Of course, while private industry stands to profit from the deregulation, the risk remains public. For example, with the help of Republican reforms of the mid-90's (over Clinton vetoes,) a corporation such as Enron could become successful without making real profits. We all know the story: company heads get and stay rich, nearly every employee loses their retirement savings, and the state of California got bilked for billions. The answer is obvious

The same risks we faced, unknowingly, in the Enron mess are inherent in every other public risk/private profit endeavor. That is not to say that farming out responsibility to private companies is wrong altogether, but it should not be the end-all, be-all solution to every dang problem. And it only makes sense to demand that the private sector assume the rich if they want to make the profit. This means no more bail-outs when a bunch of rich drunks fuck up their businesses.

The standard arguments against government oversight and regulation tend to be about government inefficiency or lazy federal workers. These shallow attempts to be anti-elitist and outsiders aside, they do a disservice to the thousands of federal workers who are diligent and efficient workers. Of course, that doesn't mean a lick to the generic Rush-clone on every radio and TV station nationwide. Sacrificing truth for legislative effect is so common it goes unnoticed.

Of course, those arguments mean very little the average citizen. The day to day operation of the federal government go unnoticed until something goes wrong. And even when that happens, the issue is nearly impossible to get behind. When Enron crumbled, the media had a field day. Fingers were pointed all over the place! Other than a weak-ass bill from the congress, and resistance from the White House to change, what happened? And who the hell cares anymore?

Deregulation is not a black-and-white issue. One has to understand investments and economics to really understand how average people got screwed by the arrogant heads of the countless companies involved in the scam. People just don't want to get behind an issue that involves thought and education, it would seem. Americans care enough to get angry, but that's about it. As long as it doesn't affect our 401K's directly, we don't give a shit. This is disturbing, since the more this kind of corporate malfeasance takes over the role of an accountable government, the worse all of our lives will become.

Clearly, this kind of business model is wrong for everybody- except the few thousand Americans who stand to get rich from ruining the companies that provide us with jobs, of course. Government's role is to protect and enrich the lives of the people who give it legitimacy. By allowing the government to give up it's role in order to line the pockets of so few at the expense of hundreds of millions is beyond unconscionable. It's morally corrupt.

Government regulation of the market, among other things, demands that products are safe and competition is fair. How could anybody be against that? I'll tell you how- when you stand to get rich by screwing everyone else. Thus, buy allowing deregulation we are screwing ourselves.

Wake up, America. Most of us are far from rich. And those that are rich certainly aren't going to, by the grace of god, share their money. Because by replacing government programs with charity and self-regulation, we make economic fair play optional at best.