Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: angry

POLITICS: States that give, states that get

Of the states that get more money than they give, 84% are Republican.
Of the states that give more money than they get, 78% are Democratic.
NOW who's redistributing wealth unfairly?
Details here.
Tags: economics, politics
Subscribe

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
    default userpic

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
    Help
  • 102 comments
...go 5 levels up... Expand
beckyzoole

beckyzoole

October 31 2008, 16:49:39 UTC 12 years ago

I guess it wouldn't surprise you if I said I believed it was the community's duty to take care of its members... not the government's.

I think of "the government" as the community's representative and agent. It simply depends on the size of "the community" in question. If a community is going to take care of its members in any sort of organized fashion, it's going to need some sort of governing agency to do that organizing. (Sometimes that "government" is going to be private, like a church's governing board of directors. Sometimes it will be public, like a local school board.)

So at what point does a government become too big, too remote from the community that elected it, to be the community's agent anymore?
haikujaguar

haikujaguar

October 31 2008, 17:07:54 UTC 12 years ago

I don't think of the government as an agent of community: certainly, the government has not been managing its duties the way I think it should be, much less encouraging the community I want. It's been a long time since my government represented me, anyway.

I think of it as a loaded gun. It has too much power already to be impartial or trusted.
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

October 31 2008, 20:39:02 UTC 12 years ago

Perhaps local government -- a town's mayor, for example -- can be an agent of community. The national government tends not to be. Like you, I feel that it's been a long time since the national government represented me; in a global forum, I'm usually either criticizing it or apologizing for it.

I agree with you about the loaded gun: a thing to be wary of, but useful if something is trying to kill you.

What would it take to make government, or organization, an agent of community?

I think a primary problem in both government and business is size. The bigger an organization gets, the farther it spreads, and the less it's compelled to care about any one person or place, or even group of people. A local business relies on the local economy and community. A national business can accomplish things a local one can't -- but chances are it doesn't care about the local economy or community anymore, because it has 500 stores and thousands of employees.

One thing that would help would be a change in structure. Right now, a corporation is like a hub with straight lines running to all the stores. It would work better if there were lateral connections, and local clusters -- if the stores could function locally as much as possible, and use the widespread connections to accomplish things that couldn't be done locally. With high-level government, we run into problems where they try to impose one solution nationally that does not work everywhere because of local conditions. "No Child Left Behind" is a textbook case of how to screw up by that book. It would be better if effective local solutions could be passed along both laterally and radially, so that people would have some options to try and the best ones would get replicated. We don't do much of that now.
beckyzoole

beckyzoole

October 31 2008, 21:15:31 UTC 12 years ago

By "the government", do you mean your local municipal council or city hall? Or the local school district board? Or the county commissioners? Or the state government? Or the federal government?

I'm not thrilled with the way my city is run, but I know my local alderman personally. I made it my business to meet her when I moved into her neighborhood, and I've called her several times to request city government services: to get a missing street sign replaced, to get city inspectors out to look at a neighboring business that didn't take good care of its property (I don't mind a messy back yard, to a point -- but they had rats there), and to ask how best to deal with some rowdy, scary neighbors (my alderman gave me the name of the neighborhood police officer, who said he'd had other noise and fighting complaints about them already and that he was on the verge of making a complaint to the landlord about "nuisance tenants").

All these things made my community, my neighborhood, a little better. All these things need government to do. Even if I wanted to spend the money myself, I couldn't just put up a street sign in a city, it has to be coordinated with the post office and the 911 dispatchers and so on. Sure, I had complained to the business personally, and the owner was dismissive; it needed the threat of fines to make him act. I am too much of a wimp to have approached the nuisance neighbors myself; I was happy to let the police handle that.

My city collects a 1% income tax and a 4.016% sales tax. As homeowners, we also pay about $1200 in property tax each year. That's a lot of money.

But the fire department was here within two minutes last summer to save our garage from burning down. (That alone was worth all the taxes we've paid.) The police department responds promptly. The rowdy neighbors were evicted. The business has cleaned up its property. Our alley was recently repaved, our trash is collected regularly, our water is clean and our sewers don't back up. When I volunteered in the state prison system and didn't have health insurance, the city health department provided free tuberculosis tests, free flu shots, and free hepatitis immunizations. I frequently visit the city-run free zoo, free science museum, and free art museum.

I get good value for my money, I think. Now, if they'd only put in the speed bumps I keep asking for....
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

November 6 2008, 17:46:25 UTC 12 years ago

I think local and household conditions make a difference in how people perceive the government. If you have a home, a job, health care, and a reasonably clean and safe environment then you're a lot more likely to feel that the system is working than people who don't enjoy those advantages.
beckyzoole

Re: Hmm...

beckyzoole

November 6 2008, 19:06:42 UTC 12 years ago

What you say makes sense. And yet it is the Republican party that complains most about "the government" -- the party that supports policies that help big business and the wealthy more than it helps provide health care, a clean environment, social safety nets, etc.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

November 6 2008, 20:16:01 UTC 12 years ago

I know, and that's really odd. I'm baffled that the party which used to be wary of big government has promoted the drastic expansion of government power and intrusion. I'm a liberal; I support social programs; but I do not trust the government or want it to be super-powerful. This makes me a rocker between liberal and conservative issues. I can see value in points on both sides, although more of my stances are liberal than are conservative.