THE U.S. GOVERNMENT CAN"T RUN ANYTHING………REALLY?

President Reagan always said "government is the problem". But George W. Bush proved beyond a doubt that it wasn´t "the government", it was those "running the government".

...The US Capital Building

I wish those Republicans that keep blaming everything that is wrong with the country on "big government", would remember that "we the people" are the government and "we" elect those that run the country, (with the exception of those lobbyists with tons of campaign donations). And by the way, the "far right" lost the last two national elections.

And now, the far right is also complaining about President Obama´s appointed "Czars" in the White House, when these are only White House advisors and they have been around as "Czars" in every administration since Ronald Reagan. (FYI: W. Bush had 10 more Czars than Obama.)

Most reasonable people agree that there is no doubt that there are some areas where private companies and their competition need to stay private and there are areas that are best done by the government.

For instance, the military is best handled by government military personnel that are overseen by elected civilian servants of the people. However, with the war in Iraq, Bush and the GOP felt that much of that military business could be handled by hired private contractors. Of course, these private contractors cost we the taxpayer, 6 times the cost of one US trooper. In addition, for some strange reason, these contractors were not required to report to the on-the-scene US military commanders….? And we are now seeing how well that did not work out.

Yes, I am aware that by using contractors, we do not need to cover their long-time costs of health care and retirement. But as representatives of the people of the United States, while in a foreign country, they should be subjected to the same rules and regulations as the US military. That was not the case in Iraq, and it is only marginally so today in Afghanistan.

But I digress.

My points about government vs private business can be demonstrated by using a few examples.

>>> We always hear about the US Postal Service competing with UPS and FedEx for delivering express mail and packages. But, can you put a $0.49 US stamp on a First Class letter and give it to UPS or FedEx and have it delivered to anywhere in the US? In this case, having the USPS for First Class mail is more appropriate for the US government to manage versus the private delivery services.

>>> Even with some of their negative issues, (& many of which were brought on by the US Congress messing with their funding), most Social Security recipients, US Veterans and Medicare / Medicaid recipients are generally pleased with these programs and they are all federally run and supported. (And they work so well that there´s the elderly woman that wanted, "nothing to do with a government health care program", But then she added; "stay away from my Medicare plan…..?")

>>> Today, there are government run colleges and universities all over this country that regularly compete with the private, elite universities.

>>> The US government has built the most extensive Interstate Highway System in the world. Yes, it´s falling apart today because it hasn´t (under multiple Republican congresses) been properly budgeted for its maintenance, but it is still a fantastic highway systems.

>>> There are over 200 major hydroelectric dams built on rivers all over the US that were built and are properly maintained by the US government.

>>> The nation´s US Electrical Grid needs revision and updating, but it has worked for America with very few problems for the past 75 years.

>>> It was the US government with NASA that enabled America to go to the moon. It is highly unlikely that we could have done that through private contractors in 1969.

>>> The Panama Canal could never have been built without US government support.

Now, let´s look at some reasons that government "should be involved" instead of only using private companies:

>>> Healthcare companies such as Blue Cross / Blue Shield were originally non-profit health care companies. With all the problems we are seeing today with the "for-profit" US health care companies, it was under Reagan, that they all became private companies. And today, many of these companies are now subsidiaries of the less than 10 gigantic and "gouging the public" US health care suppliers.

>>> By out-sourcing and hiring unqualified "cronies" to manage FEMA, President Bush found out during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that to depend on inexperienced management and the many separate private contracting companies, was not the way to go. And as a final result of that debacle, a number of innocent Americans died.

>>> Blackwater´s private American army has killed innocent Iraqi´s and they, along with the private contractors, Halliburton and KBR, have fleeced America for billions of dollars during the Iraq and Afghan war. (And it´s still going on.) And KBR´s shoddy construction has been responsible for electrocuting 17 military personnel in Iraq.

>>> Due to a lack of US government oversight in Iraq, $9 Billion tax-payer dollars in un-marked bills, shipped on pallets to Iraq, are now totally unaccounted for…..? (And that´s not to mention the thousands of automatic weapons that were "misplaced"…….)

>>> Under President Bush, his administration transferred the responsibility for the Department of Defense´s, Walter Reed Hospital to private contractors. When this occurred, 350 government medical / maintenance personnel were replaced with 100 private contractor personnel. We have since been made acutely aware of how the returning troops were previously not given the proper medical support, due to the lack of trained medical personnel. The facilities also required massive upgrading and repair due to their lack of proper maintenance. Today, Walter Reed Hospital is back to properly being managed by the Defense Department´s military medical personnel.

>>> Under the Republicans, they cut back on so many US government inspectors for foreign imports, that this is how bad food and bad imported items from baby food and toys, to prescription drugs and pet food have been able to get past the Customs Inspectors and to be distributed to American citizens.

>>> Much of the CIA torturing of Muslin insurgents was done by privately contracted consultants. Many of these so called "consultants" were without any previous detainee interrogation experience.

As with these few examples, it demonstrates that there are places for the government and places for private enterprise. In addition, the GOP conservatives have got to recognize that we need "fair trade", not deregulated, "free trade". And as the constitution says, the government is to; "provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare". Therefore, the government can and should be involved with issues from foreign imports, to the US military, to Social Security, to Medicare, and including America´s future health care programs.

Copyright G.Ater 2009

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