Dear Editor:
I thought this quote was priceless. "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." Maybe yes, maybe no. Nevertheless, citizens seem to confuse politics with governing. Politicians like to keep the illusion.
In a letter dated April 28, Charles Schroeder unwittingly blames the government for essentially what I quote above. But I sense he feels our government is sinister. I disagree. I see the danger as one of a broken government. In a 1970 speech to the nation President Nixon stated that if America acts as "... a pitiful helpless giant ..." then free nations and institutions will be in danger.
We are in an unparalleled situation. There has never been a time in human history when governments have tried to govern such large groups of citizens. The ancient Greeks thought there was an absolute limit to the size of a city state. Today America is more than 300 million citizens and Mr. Schroeder wants less government not better government.
In every area of life we know that human actions without boundaries produce chaos. Could a professional football game actually function without referees? Not in any organized manner. Should our roads be unpatrolled and citizens able to drive willy nilly. Go to any third world country to see what chaos that produces.
We are a growing nation and every year there are more of us. Yet, Mr. Schroeder feels we need to go back to a previous level of agencies or programs. We need simplicity and functionality in government. That might mean more or less agencies.
I just finished "Too Big To Fail" which tells the inside story of the recent financial crisis. There is a bit of irony in the story as the banking institutions began to fail. Some of the key players were asking, "Where was the government? How could they have allowed this to happen?"
But it happened because our political class removed regulations that limited the kind of risks banks could take.
The book "The Wrecking Crew" explains how conservatives have spent decades making the regulatory agencies ineffective. If citizens throw up their hands and say these stupid regulations require so much paperwork it is not worth it, ideologues have succeeded and chaos will reign.
Simple streamlined and effective government is what America needs. We do not need Mr. Schroeder's Wild West.
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