In Thanksgiving for our (Very Big) Government

This year as we go around the table expressing thanks for friends, family, health, and home, I anticipate smirks (if not boos) when I add: "But, mostly I'm thankful for big government."

Yes, big government is usually just the bad guy who takes our money, constrains our options, and basically gets in the way. But, in light of the tremendous challenges facing our country, I am grateful for a government big enough to help us weather the storm.

So this year, I'll raise a glass to our very big government for:

• Stepping up in an emergency, one which market forces could not quickly correct, and investing an ungodly sum to keep the financial market running (or at least sputtering) along.

• Counting the votes of over 125 million Americans, more than have ever voted before. And then, where the results were really close, for counting them again.

• Smoothly transitioning power from some hands to others, with winners and losers determined by individual voters rather than riots, coups, or challenges to the legitimacy of the process.

• Insisting long-ago that we extend equal rights to women and minorities even when many of us were not quite ready to do so. And for providing a process for citizens, legislatures, and courts to puzzle through the similar civil rights issues of our day.

• Nurturing the seeds of innovative ideas, like early technologies underlying today's internet, new approaches to economic redevelopment in blighted neighborhoods, and scientific research in search of cures for all that afflict us.

• Investing in the long-range things that we were not focused on at the time, such as building the interstate highway system, establishing state college and university systems, and preserving land for national parks.

• Keeping us safe as we celebrate the holidays, not only by securing the homeland, but by regulating and monitoring the airplanes on which we fly, the cars in which we drive, the foods we enjoy, and the air we breathe.

• And for providing extra help at those points in life we need it most: when a hurricane hits, in the face of violent crime, or following a disabling accident, corporate "downsizing," or home foreclosure that left us with fewer options than before.

Of course government isn't perfect -- quite far from it. And on another day I will again join with its critics. But today, as I inventory my thanksgivings, high on that list are the many quiet ways that government enables me to live my very blessed life.

Elizabeth Rigby, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston and a Research Affiliate at the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia University. A (slightly different) version of this op-ed appeared in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday November 23, 2008. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6126840.html

Comments

[WorldGriot]

The real problem is that so few of us know the difference between Government and Private enterprise. I agree that big government is very welcome right now. But the Federal Reserve is not government. and those yokels who are always pining for A small government of the founders conveniently forget that those same founders gave us slavery to buttress this small government. So it seems that when they talk about government spending on SERVICES they lament a government big enough to take care of its citizen-stakeholders. "Small government" is a SHAREHOLDER view of government that believes that to the privileged shall go the spoils. But Big Government is a STAKEHOLDER perspective that believes that those who work harder should get some advantages but not ALL THE ADVANTAGES. Because what the founders gave us before they gave us SIZE of government was FORM of government, which says it should be big enough to guarantee life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to ourselves and our posterity. democracy is a stakeholder first kind of government. HOW BIG SHOULD GOVERNMENT BE? BIG ENOUGH! Thank you, Elizabeth!

[Peter007]

"those yokels who are always pining for A small government of the founders conveniently forget that those same founders gave us slavery to buttress this small government.. .................... "..... . .
What does that mean? . The founders didn't establish slavery in the colonies. Read a history book. Most of the revolutionaries were from the northern colonies where there we no or few slaves by 1776. The use of slaves was not a major economic consideration until the early 1800's when cotton became a major crop in Georgia.

[Diogenes08]

I beg to differ, Peter. The bulk of the early Government was made up of Virginians, most of them slave holders. And Mecklenburg County North Carolina issued a Declaration of Independence almost 2 years before Jefferson ( a slave holder himself) got around to writing his masterpiece.

[leftLibertarian]

Sorry, I have to disagree. The federal government is too big and burdensome. Most of it would function better at a local level from schools to health care. As it is, we are forced to send money to DC and it comes back to us - diluted.

[harriscrl3]

Whats wrong if it came back diluted. So all the states who send money should get back that money for their state and local levels. That makes no sense some states need more than others. Thats why we need a federal government so they collect money from all states and then decide where the money is best spent. If states want their own money they should do state tax some do like NY where I live but to aruge they dont need to send it to a central government makes no sense to me.. Thats the purpose of having a federal government even do they may not always be doing what they should be doing. As Obama said we dont need small government we need efficient and effective government.

Carol

[leftLibertarian]

What's wrong? If I forced you to give me 1 dollar and I gave you back 10 cents would that be right because I have less?

[Peter007]

I agree. We here in New Jersey need the money more than other places. We have higher taxes and a high cost of housing. Princeton cost $35,000 a year. We need the federal dollars more than a place like Florida where everyone just sits on the beach reading romance novels. There are no heating bills in Florida. We need the money because our heating bills are high.

[WorldGriot]

Fortunately we have ample data to suggest that you are so totally wrong about local government being better able to manage national systems like schools and health care. In the years when we had local government managing systems, we also had slavery and after that Jim Crow. and following Jim Crow we had just plain discrimination. So what we had were systematic means to exclude the vast majority of the population, (OF ALL RACES TO INCLUDE THE WHITE RACE) from participating in these systems to any appreciable degree. When racial slavery existed, it disfranchised everybody but the aristocracy. This is why today, some of the most vitriolic purveyors of the small government mantra are still the ministers of Southern tyranny that has robbed us of our democratic heritage for so long. When most of the population is discounted and disqualified, then a blind brainless baboon could make these systems work. Diluted return is precisely the purpose of federalism - ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL!

[leftLibertarian]

Show me the data.

[Peter007]

I wish you would present a coherent argument so I could refute it. Slavery? I don't get the connection. Its not the issue. My one point is that education is now handled at the local level. Most of the funding comes from the local level. Some places its at the state level. The responsibility for education is with the states or the citizens as individuals. Read the constitution ( Amendment 10 ).

[LeftRight]

On the other hand, many of those functions that you feel would be better accomplished on a smaller scale wouldn't really WORK. If we were 50 separate nations, MAYBE. But as one union of states, sometimes it's just not possible. Look at the case of NY and MS. One of the richest states, New York pays out lots of money to the govt. MS NEEDS that money, and so the federal govt is able to provide it so that MS schools could (theoretically) be equal to NY!

[Peter007]

I don't get your argument. Why does New York have to pay for teachers in Mississippi? Should they pay for their roads? Local Police? Little league fields? Are you saying New York State, with one of the largest fiscal deficits in the country, a state with some of poorest counties in the country, New York should support Mississippi?

[charleydan]

I thank God for allowing me to be around for the day at hand. The day I have been telling my children will come and we must prepare for it.

Moved money over seas into safe banks.

Overseas in a currency that will keep its value far more then this dollar. Some in gold.

Having assets of legacy paid off, so the bank can not take them by default.

Cash in America in safe keeping when the banks close for a holiday of a few weeks.

Freezers full of goodies.

Yes, I am thankful and will help others when that time comes.

Yet, I know they will suffer because they trusted in big government. A government that could have never got there without the Federal Reserve printing press that has brought us our near future. Man that trusts such a scheme, believes that government and thieves are moral entities.

How can a government that prints one dollar making the poors dollar worth less. Have the audacity to say, I am here to help. Con man at work, should be stamped on the Federal Reserve building and the politicians that use it.

[harriscrl3]

At first I thought this was a satirical post. I'm glad to see I was wrong. As bad as things are we need ot remember how fortunate we are to live in America

Carol

[DMcMillan]

That's like applauding the orchestra for tuning their instruments. Or better, thanking a thief for picking the lock instead of breaking your door down. Our very own Founding Fathers were opposed to 'big' government.

You forgot to thank them for shredding the Constitution, increasing the deficit, spying on innocent Americans, engaging torture, and requiring the American taxpayers to pay for the c o r ruption of investment banks, getting us into two unnecessary wa r s that bankrupted the country, hiring Blackwater to take care of New Orleans residents, allowing corporate interest to triumph over public safety in every area including the "air we breathe, cars we drive, and the food we eat".

It's the People of America and the rest of world that I will thank today for keeping in their hearts the spark of Peace, Liberty and Justice for All alive and well - the pressure from people make it a reality, not the gov. The troops that need to be thanked for their sacrifices, not the entity that uses them for profit and power.

Happy Thanksgiving

Lordy.

[motherbayo]

You're right Nichole, thank God for our government (our politics & service to one another). We don't have to be perfect. We do have to have an attitude of gratitude though. Like Barack said - it's gonna be alright. Yes we can...

[Social Construct]

I,too, am a fan of big government; however, ours dropped the ball on making sure that those tilling the economic rudder of the ship of state didn't mutiny and steer us off into the sea of self interest.

[Peter007]

Sorry Elizabeth. I think you are lost on this topic. Leave aside politics, you are thankful that we have a government large enough to bail us out of this financial crisis. Remember who got us into this mess. The Federal Reserve. The Fed, along with a free spending "BIG" government, spent money like it was growing on trees.. No They spent more than that. They took most of the trees in the rain forest to print enough money to throw at every issue that made the front page of a newspaper. The Fed has had a policy that creates Bubbles and popping bubbles for the past 50 years. Remember, the BIG government has no money. It has no wealth. It borrows money in the name of taxpayers to finance every pet project that sounds good. The government is not bailing us out the financial mess. Its the young people under age 25 that are bailing us out. The Citibank bailout is really a means to force taxpayers to invest $1,000 per person in Citibank. We would not do so on our own because we don't think its good investment so we are forced to invest by the BIG government. The BIG government also is asking our children to pay for the Iraq War. Add $5,000 per child under 25. Also add $40,000 per person for the national debt that has accumulated.

[weatherwaxx]

What got us into this is George Bush, the sockpuppet for Karl Rove and the other multinationals. But if the structure of government weren't in place, he and his slimy cohorts would be on a plane for Dubai, and most of the country would be in chaos.

You're great at saying what's wrong, and I agree with you for the most part -- but what alternative do you offer? How would YOU fix this? I'm all ears.

[charleydan]

I wished you would set your anger aside toward others and look at facts. Bush, Obama, McCain, and Clintons are not that far apart politically, really.

First the war total bill is 500 billion, yet the government spends 800 billion a year on human services. Not counting social security. This is also growing at a rate that in less then ten years, America must double taxation, or eliminate all other services to pay the bill.

Both sides of the isle have been making promises of services that the government can not deliver on. Citizens having been cheering the party on wanting more goodies at each election. So print and print somemore.

How to cure it? Well, I am going to be very blunt and do not flinch as it is coming weather you like it or not. Through the printing of money by the Federal Reserve we now have approximately 30 trillion export dollars that are now coming home. They deflate money to do that. So products abroad will eventually cost 4 times more or so. Debt inside these borders is 3.5 times the GNP. Almost double that of the first great depression.

Quickest cure. Let it fall and work like a dog for those that can find work. Abolish the Federal Reserve so it does not happen again. If one tries to save it, inflation, if not hyperinflation will kick in.


Happy Thanksgiving

[Peter007]

As much as would like to blame Bush 100% for this fiasco, I have to say that this train wreck has been in the making for 60 years. Bush could have managed the economy better and we could have avoided this harsh downturn for a few more years. Maybe decades. The war hurt and so did deficit spending. You have to first understand the difference between money and wealth. You need to understand how wealth is created. There is a difference between the cost of a commodity and the value of a commodity. The government can create money but they have a hard time creating wealth. They can transfer wealth but they can't create it. Learn that first.

[pbley68]

If socialism is good enough for Wall Street, then its good enough for us, happy thanksgiving.

[Zenith1959]

Without a little socialism, there wouldn't be as much to be thankful for.

[NicholeWebb]

I LOVE this article! What a beautiful and positive way to look at our current economic situation. Thank you for sharing this!