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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Is anyone happy with the political process?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Handout
Jim Grattan
The current election cycle raises the question of who can be happy with the nature of political campaigns and the performance of government?
We have been witnessing presidential campaigns that have gone on ad nauseam, are mind-numbingly repetitious and superficial, consist mostly of barbs directed at opponents and are covered mostly as a horse race.
In looking at the federal government, very real problems, such as environmental degradation, dependence on foreign suppliers of energy, arbitrary denial of health care despite being insured, a mortgage fiasco, erosion of our manufacturing base and consequent loss of well-paying jobs and illegal immigration - to name only a few, are allowed to worsen to the detriment of most of us.
Of course, there are those who have prospered in this climate of ineffectualness, which only points to a system failure when some can so blatantly benefit from other’s misery.
Ironically, the incessant noise of campaigns provides the illusion of a vigorous process. But the superficiality of it all should be a warning. It is no wonder that elected leaders fail to address our real problems. When were they required to expound any plans or coherent philosophies?
A major factor in the ineffectiveness of government is the philosophy that has gained ascendancy in the last few decades, having been severely discredited in the Great Depression, that market forces alone will solve our problems. Under that thinking, everything is “free”: trade, markets, and enterprise. Apparently, the President and our Congressmen have adopted the position that they are “free” from the responsibility of ensuring that our economy works for the long term for all of us.
We have learned repeatedly in our history that capitalism requires regulation to not self-destruct. In other words, there is no invisible hand that aggregates all self-interests toward a sustainable end.
Just look at our current problems. We’ve known since the 1970s that dependence on foreign oil was potentially a huge problem. Any actions taken then were mere tokenism. Did big oil companies solve our problems? Obviously, no. We knew when NAFTA was signed that the exit of U.S. jobs and manufacturing would begin in earnest. We have known for years that we were in the midst of an unsustainable housing bubble fueled by risky loans, while investment firms adopted the pretense that these mortgages were sound investments. We could have, through incentives, mandates and effective regulation, been way ahead of the curve for these problems.
But now it is average Americans who are bearing the costs and the repercussions for our failure to act appropriately.
Long and loud political campaigns where such shibboleths as “change” are repeated endlessly are more than tiresome. Where is the credible evidence that any political candidate truly believes or understands that a bogus economic philosophy has gotten us to this point and is willing to make wholesale, actual changes?
Do you feel that political campaigns are effective and actually indicate future actions? Are you content with the idea that market forces alone will solve our problems?
Jim Grattan is a software engineer and avid bicyclist. He lives in the Grayson area with his wife, Shirley, and four golden retrievers.
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