…a system knit together by patronage, greased by bribes and guided by the principle that the governing party knows best…
What country does that sound like? Could it be the U.S.? The line is taken from a NY times article on Egypt. But it could just as well apply to today’s America. Politicians – those already elected wouldn’t agree. They’d object to the patronage and bribes part. But that stuff by any other names, such as outlandish contributions, pet local projects that cost billions and government contracts for things we don’t need? What else are they?
The U.S. has been running for years on the same stuff every other corrupt country has been running on. And “change” has just made it worse. Like a debt we can never pay off growing larger for stuff we don’t need. It’s like a couple I know who always talk the woe-is-me talk because of their credit card debt, and say they’re taking steps to reform, but continue to charge lavish vacations. Like Obama charges lavish vacations. Yeh, we know he pays for his personal accommodations, but Air Force One, his entourage and security runs into millions. And it’s all charged to our national-debt credit card.
Then there are the protest demonstrations in Wisconsin. Are they just a precursor to the demonstrations to come in Washington if we ever really start cutting back the mess that’s been building for decades? And someday we will have to. Either when the bill comes due for the Social Security money we’ve been spending by the billions for things other than benefits for the people who are supposed to get it, or the trillions we’ve borrowed from China.
Yeh, it’s coming due in pieces already. But so far we’ve been able to borrow from one credit card to make payments on another while the interest keeps building.
But one day that stops. And the day Washington gets stopped down due to protest crowds like those in Cairo and Madison Wisconsin, look out. One state government can come to a standstill for a while and the rest of the world can live through it. But a really shut-down Washington?
As Thomas Paine said back in 1792, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil” –The Rights of Man (1792)
