How Much Government is Too Much Government?
We were having a hallway debate the other day about the pummeling BP and its appalling safety record was enduring on Capitol Hill. The posturing in the hearing room—on all sides—was transparent.
As per usual in our internal debates here at our firm, this progressive Democrat was ‘exchanging views’ with articulate friends of the Republican persuasion. They often make a passionate case for less government and less government regulation of the capitalist enterprises that make our economy grow. The libertarian in me listens carefully for points of agreement—while the stubborn debater scouts for vulnerabilities.
My response was to note how it seems some folks seek reflexively to argue always for less government…until they need a bailout for banks gone bad or a government subsidy for their business start-up. Indeed, it is remarkable these days to listen for contradictions from all the deregulation advocates in the oil business who have forever wanted the government to get out of the way so they could drill here, there, everywhere.
In the wake of the Gulf disaster, many of these same folks are pivoting frantically. Some partisans are lambasting the federal government for not moving more quickly to clean up the horrible mess inflicted on millions of citizens who make a living alongside the Gulf of Mexico, a mess apparently caused by a business cutting corners on standard government-mandated safety practices. They blame the White House for not making the leak stop more quickly.
Less government, indeed.
This is a debate those of us who live and work in Washington cannot escape, even after hours. It was echoed in a remarkable play our family saw last night at the Kennedy Center, a one man show about the life of Justice Thurgood Marshall. It recounted the challenge he faced in arguing against school segregation in the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.
Marshall’s opposing counsel before the Supreme Court had presented an eloquent, if familiar, argument for state’s rights. Surely local communities had the right to set their own educational policies; the federal government should butt out.
It is an intellectual proposition we hear more and more these days from people on the far right: the notion that the Federal government should shrink dramatically and stay the heck out of local concerns. In some cases, my tea partying friends have a point. Obviously Federal borrowing in the midst of multiple wars has reached unsustainable levels.
Where would we be today, however, we asked as the cheers for Marshall died down last night, if the seductive “less government” argument had prevailed in Brown v. Board of Education?
The fact remains, there are some things government needs to do to advance citizens’ aspirations and uphold the rights of all. There are some missions—from counter-terrorism to public education to environmental protection (and clean up!)—where we need our national leaders to lead. We require a collective community effort led by our representatives in Washington. That’s called the Federal Government.