A few months ago, Alaska Gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker & his running mate Heidi Drygas penned an op-ed critical of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s handling of the pandemic. In his retweet of the op-ed, Walker highlighted one phrase: “The best government is that which governs least,” before qualifying and contradicting that sentiment.
Perhaps Walker’s statement is a bit of conservative virtue-signaling, or perhaps he really believes what he says. But Governor Dunleavy and Anchorage Mayor Bronson are doing exactly what is demanded by the “least government” paradigm by doing nothing about the pandemic.
“Governing least” produces disastrous outcomes for patients, the economy, our healthcare system and its workers. Walker sees the problem, but doesn’t recognize that their failure is rooted in conservative ideology.
When people believe that government is a bad thing, or when people distrust the government, it harms the foundation of our society. There’s a spectrum of anti-government attitudes and actions out there, from tax-cheats and anti-maskers to QAnon believers and AR15 hoarders. It’s a growing problem, and it gets worse every time a conservative politician casts the government as the boogeyman.
The origin of the phrase “The best government is that which
governs least” is tainted. The idea came
not from Thomas Jefferson, but from an 1837 anti-government screed by political
columnist John O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan’s article
reminds me of the Unabomber’s manifesto.
In the same article, O’Sullivan wrote, “A strong and active democratic
government, in the common sense of the term, is an evil, differing only in
degree and mode of operation, and not in nature, from a strong despotism.” Also, “relief from the tumult of moral and
physical confusion [democracy] is to be found only under the shelter of an
energetic armed despotism.” And,
“Legislation has been the fruitful parent of nine-tenths of all the evil, moral
and physical, by which mankind has been afflicted since the creation of the
world, and by which human nature has been self-degraded, fettered, and
oppressed.” O’Sullivan was a proponent
of slavery and a supporter of the Confederacy, and coined the term “manifest
destiny” to describe the subjugation of Native peoples. We should not take our guiding political
principle from a document which prefers armed despotism to democracy, and
regards legislation as a moral and physical evil. A link to O’Sullivan’s entire article is
given below.
Our nation was founded on the principle that government is
good. The Constitution gives our government a broad mandate to promote the
general welfare, from which we benefit in many ways, as follows.
- A justice system which protects liberties.
- Education for all through grade 12.
- Medicare and Social Security to enable the elderly and disabled to live with dignity.
- Regulation of businesses to protect consumers and the environment.
- Regulation of the finance system for stable economic growth.
- Programs to advance education, health and opportunity for those in need.
- Protection for communities, jobs and the economy in the event of unexpected catastrophes.
- Lands set aside to protect nature for future generations and for its own sake.
- Scientific research for national progress.
- Funding for public infrastructure projects.
We benefit from these programs because we are all connected in our society and economy, and we all prosper or decline together. A healthy, prosperous and literate society benefits everyone.
Small government is one of the cornerstones of conservative ideology. In the forty years since Reagan, conservatives have had a single-minded goal of shrinking government, without any proof that small government is a good idea. In my opinion, the most damaging thing that happened to the United States since WWII was when Reagan convinced Americans that government was the problem, not the solution. The endpoint of shrinking government is anarchy. Without government regulation, the free market allows companies to produce unsafe products, defraud consumers, pollute the air and water, and otherwise externalize business costs to the public.
Well-regulated free enterprise with private ownership of business is clearly the most efficient economic system. It works because price signals in a free market provide the best solution to allocating capital and labor for the best use. But free enterprise is not the solution to every problem in society, and free enterprise fails badly when the price signals or flexible markets aren't working. The economic role of government Is to intervene in those circumstances.
For every anecdotal example of the government wasting money, there are multiple examples of private businesses wasting money. Private enterprise is at least the equal of government in wasting money due to poor planning, risk, error and negligence, which ultimately harms society. Consider the banking practices which led to the 2008 financial crisis, the Exxon Valdez and BP Gulf of Mexico oil spills, Shell’s failed $7B Chukchi exploration program, New Coke, Microsoft Zune, Ford’s Edsel, the Enron collapse, or VW’s emissions scandal. Do not think that these losses only affected the owners of those companies; we all suffer from business failures. If you were not impacted by the 2008 financial crisis, raise your hand.
Conservatives also trot out tired and inaccurate comparisons to failed foreign governments in their crusade against big government, crying “Socialism! Look at Venezuela! Look at the Soviet Union!” But the key problems in these countries have nothing to do with social spending. Venezuela and the Soviet Union failed because of authoritarianism, cults of loyalty to political leaders, single-party rule, cronyism, repression of the free press, secret police, loss of personal freedoms and state ownership of capital. Scary conservative rhetoric about socialism has no basis in fact. It’s nonsense.
It’s time for conservatives to recognize that the unbounded ambition of “least government” is wrong. When people believe that government is a bad thing, or when people distrust the government, it harms the foundation of our society. Let’s begin a rational discussion about the proper function of government, without nastiness and without sabotaging the wheels of our democracy. I would suggest adopting the adage “The government is best which governs responsibly, for the benefit of people and nature and with the consent of the governed.” We’ll all be healthier, wealthier, and happier for it.
References:
Standing in solidarity with our medical community and
calling for leadership, Bill Walker and Heidi Drygas, October 9, 2021.
https://www.adn.com/opinions/2021/10/09/standing-in-solidarity-with-our-medical-community-and-calling-for-leadership/
Who first said, ‘The best government is that which
governs least’? Not Thoreau, Eugene Volokh, Sept 6, 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/09/06/who-first-said-the-best-government-is-that-which-governs-least-not-thoreau/
The entire screed by John O'Sullivan can be found here:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435022455489&seq=23
