Tired of Politics

I was a tireless political junkie in my teens. I read copiously of political ideology and the minute, intellectual arguments on many issues. In those days, 1960/61, I was very conservative. I wrote about my thoughts on these issues. I expanded those thoughts. I spoke about them. Those groups did not agree with me, nor did many others. I survived that separatism and took it with me to college.

At college I dove into Republican party politics. My conservatism in 1961 served me well, but I struggled with the intellectual threads more and more. And then it happened: I began a class in Economics 101. I felt certain I would learn all about the ins and outs of the economy and how it worked. To me, economics was intrinsically embedded in political thought. It was, after all, the system that fueled the American dream and constitutional government.

Boy was I wrong! Instead, I learned how capitalism worked, how it was supposed to work, but how it became saddled with a lot of political interference. Free markets in theory were good, but few free markets existed in a regulated economy. Then we studied why those regulations came to be. All seemed purposeful and appropriate. The only problems became the degree of regulation and how well controlled it was. So many unintended consequences occurred in the early days of economic theory.

Learning Econ 101 prepared me for many years of study in economics. We learned how money and banking were supposed to work compared with how they currently functioned. Most was good, but adjustments were needed. Government policy when applied appropriately at the right time works most of the time. The trouble comes when political people in Congress change how regulations are worded and implemented in the Executive Branch. A lot of skullduggeries can happen and often do when actual human beings get their hands on the workings of government.

So, you see, I learned that Keynesian Economics was not a bad thing, just not administered correctly due to political interference. With that lesson firmly learned, I went on to a life of economic management that worked quite well. The bottom line is this: economics and government exist for the benefit of the common good of the public. Groups of people hurting, large or small, should be the focus of economic and political policies. Helping the least of our fellow human beings helps the most. The economy is stronger and works better. It anticipates the needs of people and serves them the best way possible at that moment. All the players win until uninformed ideologists get involved and warp both government and economics to their own, narrow interests.

That is what the Republicans became back then. I quit the party finally in 1985 and devoted my life to serving real needs of real people regardless of policy, economics or politics. I feel good about the outcomes over the years. Working with others to meet the needs of others is a feel-good career. Economics helped acquire the resources needed to produce the needed services and programs.

Most of the time our system works quite well. From time-to-time odd people rise to distort and abuse leadership aims. The good of many are replaced by the good of a few. Usually this is mistaken as preserving economics for those who own more and produce more. What is missed is the needs served. What is missed is the distribution of assets to a very few that reduces the work of those assets to benefit society in general. A bunch of people in the streets who do not understand these matters, feel vulnerable and made to feel more so by the rogue political leaders.

We are facing at this time nothing more than a referendum on whether our form of government is to survive unmolested by conservative theorists bent on improving their own economic status. They don’t care how others will fare from their policies and actions.

I will vote to reject this myopic distortion of America and affirm my support for what is a well-run Democratic administration under Joe Biden. In my opinion, party label means little. It is the ideology and long-term nastiness that does have meaning.

Refute Trump and his minions. Support Joe Biden and the government that is ours and works well for most of the people, most of the time.

July 17, 2024

 

 

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