TimothySaffles.com

The Government as a Business
It appears to me that, at least recently, American politicians have taken to touting their business acumen when initializing a campaign.  Since most professional politicians have no strong stance on any topic other than that which they were born with or which God they chose (Woman Presbyterian, Old White Guy Protestant etc.), I often notice a group of mostly middle-age men using their “prior business experience” as a sort of golden ticket to the seat of power.

This clever ruse seeks to correlate running a business with running a government.  As if the two had anything to do with one another.

And here’s the great part, Americans really swallow the hook on this lie.  Heck they love it.

Let’s think of it this way: If American government is a corporation, who then are the citizens?

Who are the Citizens? 

Are the citizens customers of the government?

That doesn’t make much sense.  Corporations seek to make as much money from every customer as possible.  If left to their own devices, corporations will actively crush their customers in the name of profit (do we really need examples here?  For those with extremely short memories look up Enron and California’s rolling blackouts).  It just appears to be a theorem that corporations are not benevolent (sigh: it means “kind”).  It is the maxim of capitalism that profit should be made, and should be made often*.

So why would I want to be a customer of my own government?

I don’t want my government profiteering from my toil.  I want my government to clear the way for my current and future well-being**.  Not the other way around.

So then, in keeping with our run-the-country-like-a-business model, are citizens employees of the government?  This make me pretty angry just thinking about it.

Anyone who has ever worked in this country knows what it is like to have a maniacal employer.  The idea of the employer is to pay as little as possible and squeeze maximum profit from the employee.  Doesn’t sound a lot like a government of “We the People”.  I don’t want to work for the government any more than the 30% per year for which I am forced***.

Try working for the government for real and join the Army.  Then you’ll know the truth.

Finally, the Point

Somewhere along the line, institutions in this country forgot that they work FOR the people.  The people do not work to support the institutions, the institutions work to better the lives of the people.

In this manner, politicians need to refocus their efforts from running the country like a business to running the country like a family.

Running the Country Like a Family

“Whoa, most of us had really crappy childhoods Tim.  Why would I want my government to act like my drunken father-in-law?”

Well, my original idea centered on running the country with more of an eye toward the future and an awareness of mutual support and defense and with less reflections of your mother’s poor choices in men and that man’s inability to handle his shortcomings.

If I were to visualize my perfect analogy, the government would be a well-intentioned, semi-detached benevolent figure with a desire to see all citizens succeed at whatever reasonable endeavor they choose and enjoy a reasonable level of education, health and comfort.

This new entity would seek to encourage active participation and decision-making at all levels.  The entity would plan for generations ahead (in contrast to the “leave it for future generations to figure out” model we currently have).

Conclusion

Yes, it can be said that the government does all of this now.  And, to be fair, to an extent it does.  But I am arguing for a paradigm shift.  A change in the way Americans look at government and a change in the way Americans wish to be governed.  If a reasonable politician were to craft this language into their platform, I could almost see the beginning of an New American Renaissances.

…or perhaps not.  Maybe it would just be a little nicer around here.

Notes:

*I am not against capitalism.

**Define well-being however you wish.

***Think about it, you work almost a third of the year for Uncle Sam.  It’s called taxes.  And you pay 25-30% on average.