Still Hating America.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by ironweed
I'm reading Goodwin's book Team of Rivals and the first part of it deals extensively with how people like Chase, Seward and others who ended up in Lincoln's cabinet got their starts in politics, almost all of them through the law. They thought the idea of an accountable, democratic government that could improve the lives of its poorest citizens (of whom Lincoln, though not the others, was one) through public works and deal with seemingly intractable issues of universal concern, like slavery, was something of a holy grail and worthy of dedicating their lives to.

It seems quaint now. But as unresponsive and insulated as our late 20th / early 21st Century government is in practice, it draws its legitimacy from the idea of accountability to all the people, not just customers or shareholders. Once you boot that model out the door in favor of market efficiency at all costs you're at the mercy of folks out to make a buck from you. Some of them are going to be good, and some of them are going to be very bad. And when the very bad ones sell your kids poisoned food or set off a Bhopal-style poison gas cloud down the street, who are you going to complain to? Is the boycott going to be the only means of regulating corporate conduct?

I'm not sure which particular regulations are pissing you off right now, but I for one don't give a fuck if the Clean Air Act makes my electricity twice as expensive, or EPA regulations mean I pay twice as much for my tap water, or gasoline costs twice as much because of taxes designed to make people like me think twice before I jump in the car, which I don't right now.* I want competent, dedicated professionals in the government because government regulation is the only realistic hedge against private sector abuse (or just benign neglect) in the name of short-term gains.

*this makes me a big fat rich elitist right? Let's see who's predictable.

I've tried to sel him on this for years. It's like talking to a brick Penske