Obama and Government

This is an essay I wrote, not long after Obama was elected. It was too long to be submitted as a 'Letter to the Editor' so, it languished on my harddrive for all these months:

What’s so cool about government, Mr. Obama?

Over two hundred years ago, our forefathers fought to throw off the yoke of excessive governance, and become free citizens of a free and independent nation. The unfair taxes, trade restrictions, and quartering troops in private homes, pressed a yoke down upon their necks to the point that they could no longer bear.

Out of that style of governance, the Founding Fathers crafted a new style of government. In doing so, they understood that government was a necessary evil. Thomas Jefferson eloquently stated that governments are necessary to secure the rights endowed upon us by our Creator. Those men rejected the idea of excessive government (tyranny, to be specific) to forge this great nation.

Mr. Obama believes it his duty to “…make government cool again.” When was government “cool”, to begin with?

I doubt any of the signers of the Declaration thought it “cool” to sit in Philadelphia, away from homes, fields, and families, hammering out agreements and all but putting nooses around their necks as they signed the Declaration.

Did President Lincoln consider government “cool”, as he sought to bind our young country together, as it battled to come to grips with the rights of the States and the responsibilities to the Republic? Maybe “coolness” swept over him as he stood on the field at Gettysburg, where some months before nearly 8,000 Americans had been killed and another 27,000 wounded.

Did a recently-promoted President Truman feel hip as he ordered the Enola Gay to begin her flight towards Japan? I presume not, in both cases.

What does Mr. Obama mean, then? Does he mean being a part of something dynamic, exciting, and new? Imbued with ‘hope’ and ‘change’, perhaps? I can think of several such occasions, throughout history, which might fit that bill.

The French Revolution brought about a complete disposal of the absolute monarchy and a descent into the Reign of Terror. A “cool” time, if you were a Jacobin, I suppose. The Russian Revolution was another exciting time, if you were on the winning side. Is Mr. Obama exhorting us to join his side, as the “other side” will not be much fun?

In our own history, we can look back on FDR’s New Deal as a time of excitement, dynamic change, and experimentation; if you were on the right side. Being a part of the Brain Trust, or in the upper tiers of the alphabet soup of administrations or programs, must have been pretty exciting (hoping that your wacky ideas would work). Imagine having an entire country on which to test your pet theories! How cool would that be? LBJ’s Great Society was another dynamic “America-as-Petri-dish” time for government programs (many of which still exist).

A similar thread weaves through these examples, with the exception of the Great Society, and that is they all came about out of societal or economic turmoil. Additionally, each of these instances involved a growth in governmental reach and power.

In the American examples, higher taxes and larger governmental programs came about which limited freedom, choices, and affected the marketplace. Is this what’s “cool” about government, Mr. Obama?

A grander, more intrusive government is what our forefathers desired to escape when they sailed to this land, and our Founding Fathers succeeded in throwing off that yoke. In their doing, a system was created in which any man can pursue his dreams, build a future, and chart his own path, with minimal resistance.

Mr. Obama seeks to change that and, by doing so, change the fabric of this great nation. That, Mr. Obama, does not sound “cool.”

GW