Welcome to governmentisgood.com

Why a website defending government?  Because, like many Americans, I am tired of the government bashing that is constantly coming from the political right.  For decades conservatives have been demonizing government and not enough has been done to defend it.  Ever since Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 that "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem," Republicans have been waging a political war against this institution.  Their core message:  the free market is good and government is bad.

Blithely ignoring anything good about government, conservatives have conducted a relentless smear campaign against this institution, portraying it as wasteful, ineffective, corrupt, oppressive, and bad for business.  And wherever they have been in power, Republican officials have pursued an anti-government agenda of slashing taxes, cutting social programs, and rolling back regulations. “Smaller government” has been the conservative mantra – except of course for the ever-growing expenditures for defense and national security.

This website is a response to this one-sided, distorted, and misleading depiction of government.  It makes the case that government – despite its flaws – plays a valuable and indispensable role in promoting the public good.  Most government programs are working well and are actually improving the lives of all Americans in innumerable ways.

Today, this more positive – and more realistic – view of government is beginning to gain more traction among parts of the public.  For one thing, the mortgage system collapse and the ensuing deep financial crisis have given most Americans a renewed appreciation of the importance of government and the vital roles it plays in our society. Most economists now agree that the quick and vigorous financial rescue efforts of the government saved millions of jobs and prevented us from slipping into a devastating economic depression.

In addition,  it is clear that this economic meltdown was caused in large part by conservative-led cutbacks in government regulation of financial markets, and that re-regulation of the financial sector is essential if we are to avoid such problems in the future.

In fact, more energetic government is necessary in a whole range of areas in our society, not just in the financial sector. The anti-government philosophy of deregulation has not only proved a disaster for the financial system, but also for food safety, energy policy, and environmental protection. And cutting back taxes has led to school budgets being slashed, public safety workers being laid off, poor children being denied medical care, and bridges and roads falling into dangerous disrepair.

The election of Barack Obama signaled that many Americans were beginning to realize that government is not the problem; it is actually the only solution to most of the pressing problems we face as a nation – including infrastructure decay, rising unemployment, global warming, and a worsening health care crisis. As this online resource shows, if we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector.

However, the Obama presidency has also triggered a renewed attack on government by conservatives and libertarians.  The anti-government invective has reached near hysterical levels. Popular Fox News commentator Glenn Beck has fanned the flames of paranoia about government by accusing the president of being a fascist and warning that we are headed towards a “totalitarian state” – while videos of Nazi marches played behind him.  And many conservative politicians have engaged in anti-government “red baiting” by labeling any effort to pass universal health care as “communist” “Marxist” and “socialist” – even though similar programs have been in effect for decades in every other advanced capitalist country in the world. And of course there is the Tea Party movement, many of whose members are rabid tax-haters and who believe that virtually any new government program, like the fiscal stimulus package, is a grave threat to their individual freedom.

This site takes on these anti-government agitators and seeks to set the record straight about this institution.  It challenges many of the common right-wing criticisms of government – that it is massively inefficient, that taxes are too high, that more government means less liberty, that government is the enemy of economic prosperity, and so on. An objective examination of the actual record of government reveals that most of these charges are highly exaggerated, misleading, or simply wrong.

This is not to deny that American government has its problems. There are incidents of waste, some regulations are poorly designed, and some politicians abuse their power. More importantly, our government is certainly not as democratic and accountable as it could be, money plays too big a role in politics, and special interests have way too much political power. Such problems need to be fixed, and this site identifies several needed reforms. Nonetheless, whatever drawbacks this institution has right now are far outweighed by the enormous benefits that we all enjoy from a vast array of public sector programs. On the whole, government is good for us.

In fact, democratic government is one of the greatest institutional inventions of modern Western civilization. It allows us to pool our resources and to act collectively to address the serious social, economic, and environmental problems that we are unable to deal with as individuals. The public sector is also how we provide for essential human needs that are neglected by the market – such as clean air and water, safe workplaces, and economic security. What’s more, government serves as an essential instrument of moral action – a way for us to rectify injustices, eliminate suffering, and care for each other. In short, democratic government is one of the main ways we work together to pursue the common good and make the world a better place.


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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS WEBSITE

"Governmentisgood.com is worth checking out."

The New York Times Editorial Board

"This web project is a force for good in our fragile experiment in democracy called the USA."

Cornel West, Princeton University

See more comments and discussion.

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HOW THIS WEBSITE IS ORGANIZED

  • The War on Government. This section of the site chronicles the unrelenting assault on government being waged by conservative forces in this country. Articles describe how cuts in social programs and rollbacks of regulations have harmed the health, safety, and welfare of millions of Americans; how these assaults have taken place on many fronts – in Congress, the administrative branch, and the federal courts, as well as on the state and local level; and how the right’s radical anti-government agenda is out of touch with the views and priorities of most Americans.
  • Why Government is Good. This section describes how government acts as a force for good in society. One piece chronicles a day in the life of an average middle-class American and identifies the myriad and often overlooked ways that government laws and programs improve our lives. Other articles describe the forgotten achievements of government; how government serves as an instrument of “good works;” how public sector policies and institutions protect and enhance our freedoms; how a free market economy would be impossible without the elaborate legal and regulatory infrastructure provided by government; and why we need more – not less –government.
  • How to Revitalize Democracy and Government. There are, in fact, some problems with American government, and we need to address these if we are to restore Americans’ faith in this institution. Right now, the main problem with our government is that it is not accountable and responsive enough to the public. We have a deficit of democracy – with special interests too often winning out over the public interest. Articles in this section describe this problem and how we can fix it. There are several reforms – including public financing of elections – that could help our government live up to its democratic ideals. The final piece discusses several political strategies for rebuilding and revitalizing the public sector. This includes a campaign to “reframe” the way we think and talk about government. We also need to develop a pro-government coalition in this country. Political groups that depend on active and well-funded government – environmentalists, women, minorities, labor, teachers, etc. – need to move beyond their own narrow policy concerns to embrace a wider political vision that promotes government as a good in itself.