So, it looks like Rick Perry has made a realization that is, at this point, an assumption in my left wing "statist" worldview. He now realizes that the government does things...important things critical for the proper functioning of society, and that we would be worse off if we start mindlessly cutting agencies without looking at their core functions.
Rick Perry has once said he wanted to cut the department of energy in his quest for smaller government. This was appealing to his anti government right wing base, but it lacked any understanding of what the department of energy does, and why it is important for society. Since Perry was named head of the department, he has gotten an intimate understanding of its functions very quickly, and now regrets saying he wants to cut it, citing he didn't understand what it did.
My response? No crap, Shirlock. I mean...this is how I perceive the right in general. And this is how I was when I was a member of the right when I was younger. The right doesn't understand just how important government functions are. They complain and moan about all their hard earned tax dollars being stolen from them to fund these departments they don't understand, but then when they start learning what these departments do and why they're necessary, they suddenly realize that their existence is actually very reasonable. This was really the first step I took in abandoning conservatism. I realized that the government did things, important things, that many people don't understand the workings of, and push for abolishing out of sheer ignorance.
Here's the thing. The right hates "government." I use quotes because honestly, it's more of an ideal than a practical perspective. They hate the idea of government. So they try to cut it out of principle. They want to reduce its functions, and its scope, and they want to lower taxes. The less government, the better. Government is a dragon, and it must be slayed. It is a Leviathan, and it was the founding fathers' intentions to keep it as limited as possible. So they go on this crusade to just cut "government" without learning to understand what exactly government is.
But let's be real here. The government, when done correctly, is us. It's an entity that does things that cannot be entrusted to individuals to do properly otherwise. And we are all better off for it. I'm not going to say there can't be debate over the scope of government and what its functions should be, I think that that particular issue is still a dividing line between the right and the left, but the right wing perspective of hating government just because is so stupid. It really is. And the sad thing is, so many people on the right have this idea that if you aren't one of them, you are for "big government" and want it to run everything, as if the opposing view is the exact opposite of their extremism. But it's not. Government agencies and functions come about normally as a form of problem solving. The people find problems developing from a lack of regulations or whatever, so they make rules to solve problems. Murder is a problem for a society, we so ban it. Same with theft. And then we get into more nuanced issues. We deal with land usage and whether some dude who lives up river has a right to dump toxic waste into said river, poisoning everyone else. We deal with whether the government should step in to regulate exchanges in the free market to protect the exploitation of workers, or making dangerous products that hurt people. The government is a TOOL. The opposite of being anti government isn't being mindlessly pro government. It's just being for using the government to solve problems in society. And often times when we start talking about repealing stuff without replacing it properly, people get hurt, and people can even die. Because we're re-introducing problems that were supposed to have been solved.
This is why, for example, a lot of people on the right are starting to have an "oh crap" moment when they realize that Obamacare and ACA are the same freaking thing (really guys? you didn't know that?) and that if the republicans repeal it without replacing it, as they're trying to do right now, that oh crap, they might lack health insurance, oh crap, they might get sick, oh crap, they might even die. No crap shirlock. We could've told you this before the election and heck the last 6 years in general but no one listened.
This is why I think the republicans are going to not last long in Washington, and that we might be one republican controlled government away from a complete paradigm shift. Because honestly, the right should look like the democrats do, because they actually believe in the government performing core functions of society, and the left should be to their left. Our problems in society exist because half the country doesn't even believe in the freaking government they rely on to live a decent life, and the other half seems to believe government should perform some core functions necessary in society but is afraid to push forward and is pretty conservative in their outlooks. Believe it or not, the way I see it, the democrats are conservative, as in, they want to conserve the system largely as it is and make mild changes at best, and the right is regressive, as in, they want to undo the system to return to a mythical simpler past time that never was that great to begin with.
And this is why this paradigm sucks. The democrats introduce band aids that kind of fix the problems, and the right just ignores the problems exist and tries to undo legislation done over the years by democrats, which in turn re-introduces past problems and sends our society backwards. I really hope over the next four years right wingers start to realize that government actually does things, and that these things are good for society. Even if they fail to support my progressive vision for America, I hope that they at least move toward where the democrats are so we as a society can all be on the same freaking page about the uses of government. In an advanced society, we shouldnt even have to debate whether the government is actually useful at solving problems. It definitely is. The real debate should be over what problems we want to solve and how. And there is, admittedly, room for disagreement there. But it would be a huge step over a radical right that doesn't believe in the very concept of government.
So way to go Rick Perry, a bit late to the party, but hey, you're learning, just like I did. I hope you and the rest of the right half of America expand their education on this subject over the next few years. We might actually be able to get crap done for once if you do.
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