CelticBear’s Musings

The government has a social contract with the people. The government, in a secular society, is there protect liberty and provide the means for people to have a quality of life, liberty and pursue happiness. Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican and a progressivist, stated: “Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people.” He established the concept of the “living wage.” He laid the foundation for what F.D. Roosevelt would later accomplish with the New Deal.

Thanks to the social programs FDR set in place, (and the economic push of WWII production), the majority of the U.S. citizens were able to work one job, not worry about retirement, own, OWN a car and a house, and have ample leisure time. The opportunity to have a college education was open to nearly anyone thanks to various government social programs, and the sick, disabled, elderly, were taken care of. How things have changed since Reagan started to dismantle those programs, defund the social contract, privatize social programs.

Here’s some recent issues. There was a time in which a Pell Grant would actually pay for all of college tuition. Now, it barely pays for the books. The G.I. Bill allowed tens of thousands of returning WWII veterans to get college educations (and strangely, during the 50′s-70′s our country led the world in engineers, scientists, researchers. Now, we’re about equal with many 3rd-world countries–but we do have a LOT of retail clerks and food service employees.) The Bush administration, in its desire to de-educate the masses and keep quality education for the wealthy, have nearly gutted the G.I. Bill. It’s taking people like billionaire philanthropist Jerome Kohlberg, who went to an Ivy league school thanks to the post-WWII G.I. Bill, to try to get Iraqi/Afghanistan veterans the money to be able to go to college, and be able to do something other than work at McDonalds or be homeless.

Here we have an administration whose mantra is “Support the Troops!” Every bill they pass to keep the war going, every bill they defeat that would limit our involvement in the war, they bring out “Support the Troops!” But how does the administration do that? But continuing to defund the G.I. Bill. The Veteran’s Affairs medical system used to be a model to the world for quality health care. Other countries used to model their social health care system on our V.A. system. What has the Bush administration done to support the troops? Privatize it, with the call “V.A. system is socialized health care!” and put it in the hands of for-profit private companies. The quality of care in the last few years has plummeted, the hospital conditions have deteriorated, thousands of servicemen aren’t able to get care at all. Some who have received monetary compensation for their disabilities are being asked for the money back. It’s become so bad, lawyers are being mobilized to provide free assistance to veterans to get their benefits! The last time lawyers had to be called en mass to help veterans get benefits from the government they served–the Civil War!

It seems this administration, the neo-cons, has the same idea of supporting the troops as they have in reproductive rights: the fetus is a person deserving of the utmost in fanatical protection while in the womb, but once they’re out–they’re on their own. Support the soldier only so long as he’s in combat fighting for your oil, he or she’s on their own when they come back.

The libertarian might look at this, and point up the fact that Yea! Individuals like the rich guy are helping out, private lawyers are doing a social service–that’s the way it should be! Well, sure, those are great things, people helping out each other. That IS the way it should be, we have a social contract with our fellow citizens and humans. But when it’s left up to individuals to take care of a society, well, I’m sorry but for-profit companies can’t be trusted to have anyone’s interests but the stockholders’ in mind, and individual people just don’t have the ability to do anything more than fill in gaps. Katrina is a good example. The best in humanity came out during Katrina with people, and yes, even companies to some degree, to help each other. But the best efforts of all could not fill in the gaps where the government–which has the money, manpower, infrastructure, logistics, and ideally lack of interest in profit of PR–should have been. Governments should protect the society, not just the individual, certainly not corporations.

In the interest of benefiting society, some “socialism” is necessary: healthcare, food aid, public safety, education–the “commons.” The institutions in which ALL citizens benefit and take part in. The downside to having a government which actually strives to help its citizens is that there is a risk of the government taking too much power and limiting liberty, freedom, and privacy. But a government by and for the people, and not corporate interests and those of the wealthy elite, have less risk. That’s what we (mainly) had from 1940 through 1980.

It’s what we need again, before the entire government is nothing more than a Board of Directors.