Politics are something that everybody talks about. I figure I should just talk about politics now in the beginning and get it out of the way. A lot of what I say here is based on the infographic shown on the bottom of the page, and the Shock Doctrine, a book I am reading by Naomi Klein. The book is about how American economists, politicians and businessmen have enforced strict globalization and capitalism on a multitude of nations in dire times, manipulated economies for their own benefit, and in doing so caused untold damage. It's pretty crazy and only now am I getting to the part on internal changes started during the Bush Jr. era. It really has me thinking about the power of government.
Back to politics.
Lets first think the core role of politics in our society. Politics is the process through which our government is run. Politics is a process which is carried out by politicians, people who citizens elect, to make decisions in the government. Politicians make decisions every day which affect us both directly and directly.
I am a registered Democrat, but in a more ideal society would probably lean to the right, because Republicans tend to be more conservative. The government (I talk about the US government) costs a lot of money right now, but that being said, it does a lot of really good things too. If the money being funneled through the government maximizes the benefit of its citizens, I would say it is doing its job, and the US is doing a good job right now. But it could be doing a better job.
When people talk about politics today, they predominantly speak about what the politicians are saying and how they are acting. They talk about upcoming elections and past debates, what candidates say or the new attack ad. It makes me sad, because the government should be working together to help the people, and how can they be working together if they are constantly attacking each other. People are focusing on the politicians instead of on the functionality of the government.
Government is the entity responsible for taking in money from taxpayers and other sources and using these funds to ensure society its best outcome. Nowadays there are a lot of responsibilities for the government. They are responsible for:
-maintaining infrastructure
-paying for healthcare
-caring for the homeless
-maintaining equality and justice
-assuring safety from internal and external threats
-dealing with other nations
-creating and maintaining economic rules and regulations
I'll probably go in depth about these topics at other times, but that's not for today. It's a huge scope of responsibility, and a very complicated one. And we want our government to be trustworthy, transparent, secure, responsive, and we should have extremely high expectations for what comes out of our government. The government today doesn't cover all the bases fully, but it's also extremely strung out in some places. While I was working in the Statehouse I really understood how budgets are set, and there isn't enough money going to places that need it.
I wish that we lived in a society where the government didn't have to interfere with our social lives, but it does, because people disagree about fundamental issues such as religion and science. In my ideal society, government would honestly probably be run by computers, looking at economic data of people and corporations and taking what is needed, and then using that money to maintain their societies. In my ideal society there would be no borders. In my ideal society the government would be minimal in size unless unemployment rose, in which case it would be prepared to offer jobs. Obviously this ideal society is not going to come around any time soon, but it doesn't hurt to dream.
As to whether I think the government would be better off socialistic versus capitalistic, I think a balance is needed. Capitalistic measures are needed to ensure that the economy develops, in order to keep up with other very quickly developing nations. But I also think that socialistic measures should be taken, in that the government should have oversight of programs in many areas including healthcare and education. I wish that politicians were not allowed to meddle in business, but this is unfortunately not the case.
When I think of politics, I think about a massive ship on an endless ocean. The ship is our nation, and there are plenty of other ships around too, each a different nation. Where are the ships going? I can't really tell you, but they are all going in the same general direction. The ships can help each other out or crash into each other, or do nothing. Is it a race? Not necessarily. But not only are there different ships on the ocean, but each ship has people on board, and this raises all kinds of other points. Who is in charge of the ship? what is the well being of the passengers on the ship? are they happy? How much energy should be spent keeping the people happy, and how much on moving the ship forward? Is it better to race ahead, or to help the stragglers?
One last note is that right now, I think the government is doing way too little in some areas (homelessness) and way too much in others (international occupation) and that although it is important to look out for international economic interests, internal stability is far more important.
