Fuck safe food.

Five years ago, under the Presidency of George W. Bush, the idea of questioning Federal Government policy was considered just shy of treason. Loyal dissent, as I understood the term, was dead. 

Enter President Barack Obama. And dissent has not only made a roaring comeback, it has become fashionable. The mere suggestion that we close tax loopholes on the wealthiest Americans now equals "class warfare." And there are calls for the abolition of the Department of Education, The Public  Broadcasting System, The National Endowment for the Arts,  and The Environmental Protection Agency. All on the grounds that government has become too invasive in private life, that it is FORCING its preferences down the throats of the American people. The American people, it has been argued, know what they need and it certainly is NOT art, diversity, or education. A business climate unimpeded by regulation, it has been said, will of its own grace and charity provide for these things in "proper" proportion, if they are to exist at all. 

But as both Tea Party Patriots and Libertarians rush to throw out this bathwater... what about the baby?

I recently unfriended a longtime college acquaintance for suggesting that OSHA was useless. When I argued that OSHA regulations kept workers like my grandfather alive because they assured safe working conditions, he countered that, basically, my grandfather (a WW2 vet, Purple Heart recipient, and carpenter whose career spanned 4 decades) should just have learned to be more careful.  I told him to go fuck himself.

I will now tell a whole bunch more people to do the same.

• If you have ever driven on an Interstate Highway, you have benefitted from federal funds.

• If you've ever ridden Amtrak, you've benefitted from a federally run transportation network.

• If you've ever bought a plane ticket, you've benefitted from federal subsidies that keep air travel afforrdable.

• If you've ever mailed a letter, you've benefitted from a federal service.

• If you've camped in a National Park, you were a guest of the Federal Govt.

• If you've accepted a farm subsidy, you've taken federal money.

• If you've received disaster aid, you've taken federal money.

• If your child had attended a public school you've accepted a federally subsidized service.

• If you've accepted Medicare or Medicaid payments, you've taken federal money.

• If you enjoy safe air and drinking water, you've benefitted from a federal program.

• If you have money in a bank, chances are it's protected from loss or theft by the FDIC (a Federal agency created by Congress).

• If your food was inspected by the FDA, you've benefitted from federal services.

Now, unless you're willing to say, "Fuck safe food,"  or you are like the Unabomber and live in a corrugated steel shack and hunt rabbits for sustenance, it is time not only to get honest about the ways you benefit from tax-funded federal programs, but to stop bellyaching about paying your fair share. 

This idea that there are Americans  who've made it "all on their own without any help from anyone" is the most petty and self-aggrandizing lie. I rejcet it. And I reject those who propagate it. We are a community, and nearly everything we do depends on cooperation. Cooperation among individuals, familiies, businesses, houses of worship, and yes, governmental organizations. 

I am not suggesting unfettered government any more than unfettered private enterprise. I have no more desire for a Stalinist state than for a return to the age of carpetbaggers and robber barons. What I am suggesting is cooperation, and an end to the frantic calls to amputate entire limbs of government based on a whim.  

Comments

[Elaine]

Amen to that! One of the best summations of the situation I've heard. Very few people are alive who still remember the old, so-called "low-government" US since that goes back to pre-New Deal America, but there are a hell of a lot of services that people now take for granted. Poor as it is, there wasn't even Social Security and things like that prior to the New Deal -- does everybody want that gone too? How about no military pensions either -- those are government run, right? What about people who used military benefits to go to college -- guess we don't want that either. Or maybe we do. This isn't art, after all.

[trainwatcher]

And let's not forget all the convicts who would be cut loose when we close all them gummint-run and privately-owned but gummint-paid-for prisons. On the upside, some unjustly-jailed folks would be released, too. That would drive the judgmental Righties nuts, but it would be, as ex-con Martha Stewart would say, a "Good Thing.")

[trainwatcher]

Oh, and Happy Donut Hole, everyone! Just fell into the "gap" and had to shell out 2/3 of this month's SS check for my meds. Luckily, it's only for three months, but it's a bitter taste of what it'll be like year-round if the Kill-Medicare crowd has its way. I think the much-despised government should pay for therapy to help them work through why they hate their parents and grandparents so much.

[Jim O.]

Good stuff Charlie! I'm starting to get the feeling that this whole Tea Party thing is slowing starting to implode on itself only because the more exposer their talking points receive the faster they fall apart. I, like you, have had right wing acquaintances say some pretty terrible shit to me, personal shit. My ability to be a father and the quality of my family and friends has been called out only because I think people and coporations should pay taxes.
There is also a a subset of the Tea Party/ libertarian crew who will tell you that corporate taxes are far too high an that's why corporations use the loopholes and we should switch to a corporate flat tax. Once you point out that this would mean they are in fact in favor of raising taxes, they shut up. It's also fun to ask them how they feel about raising tariffs for imported goods from China (as Obama has done for tires) and perhaps funding new American businesses with the a "tariff fund". Since they only have a set number of talking points the entire conversation usually falls apart....

[sparkly jules]

Thanks for so succinctly and clearly stating what so many of us are thinking, but are not as eloquent as you with words. You nailed it here, and with the death penalty post.

Thanks for doing this.

SJ

[Melissa]

Amen! I'm back to your blog from a long time away, and I don't think anyone could've said this any better. Glad to be reading again.