The biggest idea behind all Republican campaigns this season (from Romney to “Legitimate Rape” Akin) seems to be that government is awful and we need to kill it. But how, exactly, did the somewhat-abstract notion of “government” become about as appealing as bed bugs? At least, to the Republican Party, Libertarians, and a large number of independents. Half of the country seems to be more enraged at the big G (not the biggest G, God, who they love or pretend to) than the big C (not cancer, corporations, although I could see the confusion).
To them, sky rocketing income inequality, rich tax dodgers, outsourcing jobs to drive down “costs” (wages) so the CEO can get a bonus, and general vulture capitalism (pretty much anything associated with Mitt Romney) aren’t what’s ruining their lives. It’s this vague, government boogie man that’s really behind all that stuff…and, and, and, you know, wants to like, take their guns and stuff (even though guns have saturated the market more than ever before)…and, and, and, the government wants to, like, give their job away to a Mexican or something (unencumbered by a pesky thing called proof)…and then there’s taxes, just the mere thought of them will now send someone into a rage, even though tax rates for everybody are lower than they’ve been since the 1950’s.
[And why do taxes piss people off so much? It’s clearly based on how much you can afford to give. I may not do cartwheels at the thought of paying an extra seven-cents for sales tax on my Taco Bell burrito, but to let that define my life and my politics? It just seems extremely petty in the scheme of things.]
Ohhhhhh boy, but the “deficit,” they might say. Yes, the deficit, that abstract beast that most of the Tea Party didn’t give two shits about before Obama became president, and the entire Republican Party was completely unconcerned with when they started two wars they couldn’t pay for, green lit a costly Medicare program, dumped a ton of money into new bureaucracies like Homeland Security, and gave out a round of big tax cuts.
The government is now more costly, but is it really more invasive? And, if it is, then why did the exact same people complaining about it start The Department of Homeland Security? Why does the Tea Party (in every poll) not care all that much about the military industrial complex? The outrage doesn’t seem to reflect the reality. So I can’t help but wonder…really, what’s so awful about the government?
In his convention speech, Barack Obama said “We don’t expect the government to solve all of our problems, but we also don’t think the government is the source of all of our problems.” And I literally said “Exactly!” to the television. Republicans and Libertarians (is there really a difference anymore? Libertarians are supposed to be better on social issues, but I’ve never met a Libertarian that was pro-choice) vehemently the government. They talk about the government like it just got done fucking their wife. And yet I have never met someone whose life was actually ruined by the government.
Maybe I’ve lived a sheltered life, but maybe, juuuuust maybe people have created a scapegoat that, frankly, doesn’t impact their everyday lives in any kind of negative way. If your life sucks, it’s not the government that’s behind it, it’s probably you, but saying that isn’t going to be as popular. Of course, being honest rarely is, but facing that fact may be the only way your life can actually get better. After all, does anyone really think that stockpiling assault rifles and insistently hating the government is going to make their lives better? They do? Well…maybe I’m wasting my breath then…