Our government
What does “our government” mean to you?
It’s a phrase politicians, pundits, and ordinary people often use, so often that it’s a cliché, something we say without thinking. Have you ever thought about it?
What is “our government”?
My answer, probably like most peoples’, starts with some patriotic chestnuts, “We the People” and “government of, by, and for the people.” That’s really not useful, however, unless we press further and pursue a more concrete and specific definition of “the people.”
“Our” implies ownership. Right? If government really is “ours,” we ought to be able to do with it as we choose, direct it to serve our needs and interests.
That’s not happening. We’ve had repeated, dramatic, potentially conclusive evidence in recent years that our government primarily serves the interests of Wall Street banks and investment firms, oil companies, military industries, and other big corporations.
The evidence: bank bailouts and climate change, to start, along with the absurd amount of waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system. There’s the war in Iraq, which was engineered by the Bush administration for their political purposes and the profits of their favored special interests. And much more.
For me, “our government” and “We the People” are only meaningful when every citizen is somehow included. Each and every individual citizen. Living human beings only. Not corporations.
Every citizen, moreover, must be included equally. You, as a citizen, and me, too, and our friends and family members and neighbors, ought to have equal rights and political opportunities with Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, and other celebrities and billionaires.
Have you ever tried to contact your member of Congress, governor, or other elected official? Did you succeed? Did he or she respond personally?
Gates, Trump, Winfrey, etc., probably get their phone calls returned. Don’t you think?
These are some reasons I strongly support the idea of a guaranteed basic income, Citizen Dividends. Every citizen would at least be able to get onto the political and economic playing fields.
To learn more, visit the home page and other material on this web site, www.IncomeSecurityForAll.org.
You can read the complete plan, the idea and how we can implement it, in Peaceful, Positive Revolution, which is available from Tendril Press.
Steven Shafarman
Tags: government