Middling at Both Ends

This post is past due. My newest goal is to make everything “gentle and agreeable,” which is contrary to my nature. It also violates the current absolute division between I support Trump and I hate Trump. This road has no middle, and no yellow line. That means logic is a useless foil. Our national ambition is a head-on collision. That means we have nowhere to go. To push the analogy, we need to stop driving and look at the map.

So, what we (mostly) want from government, I keep assuming, are working systems of restraint against those working against us. Whether thugs and miscreant teens or corrupt officials, cabals, foreign governments or alien ambitions, Uncle Sam appropriately rules the seas and skies of any American interests. What we can safely call Defense against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That clearly defines our national, federated government. It serves as first line of defense against invasion and corruption. That corruption also creeps in with trade agreements. That is why our Founders gave foreign trade specific props.

Political objectives include either as little as possible, as much as possible, or something you consider moderate, though moderation simply means more or less. At the extremes, options range from no government to no growth. There are no real limits to what can happen without steering, limits, or repression. Ungoverned allows an unkeeled boat incredible speed through uncharted waters. It only fails when it abruptly blows up or reaches a shoreline or something else in the water. No brakes, no steering, no pedals.

Anarchy is different. That is a hypothetical absence of authority. Like other vacuums in physics, they cannot survive a leak. Any and all forms of control will rush in with the next breath. Again, that is why our Constitution is so annoyingly restrictive. It is restricted to moral and free people — ethical, just, civil, polite, reasonable, rational, accountable to a higher authority than hormones and neurons, balanced by autonomy and fellowship, wealth and industry, culture and environment. Only such people — greater people — will ask those things of their government. We definitely want less waste, fraud, and abuse, except exactly where we demand them. Your list of personal clauses might be long or short.

The government does many things poorly, so somebody else should do many things. We are tyrants when our personal appetites exceed our resistance to integrity. Our government spends seven trillion dollars per year. “Ow, wow. We’ll try to keep it under eight next year.”

That’s what government can do with any program. They are extremely good at it.