THIS IS THE THIRD installment in a series about the deficit, which began here, with a simple, practical, plan to deal with the deficit—and create a surplus—without cutting Social Security or Medicare or any of the government services we depend upon.
Last time, I pointed out that we have been seriously misled, over the last thirty years or so, about three things:
- the nature of freedom,
- the nature of democratic government, and
- the way the economy works.
The first of these, freedom—or Liberty—can only be kept for the common citizen insofar as the common citizen has at least enough wealth and power to give him or her real choices, and only insofar as corporations and the wealthy do not have enough wealth or power to take those choices away.
The second thing we have been lied to about is the nature of democratic government.
We have been taught to believe that our democracy, our democratic republic, is the enemy.
It is not.
A dictatorship would be the enemy. A king would be the enemy.
Both of those are top-down structures, in which the people are considered an extension of the ruler.
A democratic republic is merely an extension of ourselves:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
We should guard against our government being subverted and controlled by foreign influences or by wealthy and powerful people or corporations, certainly—that's simply making certain that it remains our government.
But we should never see the government itself as an enemy—it is us: our way of making our lives more fair, more peaceful, safer, more prosperous, and freer.
So it makes no sense to worry about big government or small government in the abstract—it's simply a question of whether government is doing what it is supposed to do.
Any function of our government that we implement to support the purposes outlined in our constitution is good.
It's just our way of taking care of ourselves and each other.
On the other hand, there is a danger from big government in one direction.
When that government comes to be so closely intertwined with the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, when it begins to build its military might far beyond what is needed to "provide for the common defense," when it begins to feel free to invade, and impose its will on, other nations, it is in danger of ceasing to be a democratic republic and becoming instead an empire.
Empires are not a mere extension of the will of their people, they are not democratic, and they are doomed to fail.
Greece. Rome. The Third Reich.
We should guard carefully against "Big Government" in this sense—against too much influence from wealth, against too much emphasis on the military, against doctrines that lead us to believe we have the right to throw our weight around.
But the size of our democratic republic itself is a non-issue.
It should be just the size it needs to be to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.
Next Installment:
The Way the Economy Works...
