What Do You Want from Government?

Ultimately, as we debate the issues of our national budget, debt, deficit, what we are really saying is “what do you want from government?”  All of us as we look at our personal budgets weigh the difference between our desires and our limited financial resources to make choices.  Some of our choices are easy, eat out less often, skip the European vacation, etc. 

Some of the choices are harder, replace the cars transmission or buy a new car.  For years we have treated our local, state and especially federal government as an endless resource of services to enhance or protect our daily lives.  What was once endless is now finite as the cost of all the services we so desire are dramatically exceeding our revenues.

For many people whom I have asked, they are stunned by the question because they have always assumed that government could and possibly should be doing virtually everything.  Unfortunately…everything costs a lot of money.  I initially thought of listing all the U.S. Government departments, but a little research showed I was faced with literally hundreds, if not more than a thousand agencies and departments.  Instead, I will list only those departments who have secretaries that are members of the President’s Cabinet.

• Department of State
• Department of the Treasury
• Department of Defense
• Department of Justice
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Labor
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Energy
• Department of Education
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Department of Homeland Security

That by itself is quite a list and does not even include groups like the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other similar high profile agencies who don’t site at the cabinet table.  I have listed these because they are a good way to remind ourselves of the many things that government is currently doing for us. Most of us can look at this list and be reminded of some government service, support or oversight that they feel is important. Unfortunately, services cost money and the pot of money is not anywhere near as big as the demand.

I personally look for my government to as a minimum provide the following:

Infrastructure:

Turn on the tap and water comes out. Flip the switch and electricity is available to light my home. Take out the trash and someone picks it up on a timely basis.  Pull out of my driveway and be able to commute on roads and bridges that don’t consume me or my car in some hazard.

Public Safety:

Be able to call 911 and know that with proven reliability, the police, fire or ambulance service will arrive in a timely manner to save my neighbor or myself.

Public Education:

Democracy is dependent on a population who can listen to the news, read the paper or browse the internet in ways that allow them to intelligently question the actions of their elected officials.  Additionally, a healthy economy requires a work force with a broad skill range and the ability to solve the problems we have not yet dreamed of.

Security:

Be able to go to bed at night without worrying that our borders are going to be overrun by some foreign power or group.  Locally, know that I can walk my dog at night through my neighborhood without fear of attack or robbery.

Justice:

Know that my personal property is not subject to seizure including innovative ideas, intellectual property and a potentially successful business.  If accused of a crime, know that I am assured of an opportunity to have my day in court before an unbiased judicial system. 

Safety Net & Oversight:

Money that I put in federally protected bank that is not an investment should be there for me at some later time.  In the worst of times some modest stipend should be available to help me for a short period of time.

The aforementioned is by some accounts a pretty sweeping list. It could be just my age, but all these things are important to me and I expect them of my government.  We know that some of these are delivered by local government, some by the federal government, and some by the myriad of government tiers in between. I also have an expectation that these services will be delivered in an efficient and cost effective manner.

I hear quite often people expressing frustration over government lack of efficiency and comparing or more accurately contrasting this efficiency gap with the private sector.  There is now doubt that we should be able to expect our government to deliver services with measurable value for our tax dollars. 

In the private sector, we have an expectation of value for our dollar and assume that if nothing else, competition will purge the worst offender from the market.  All of us have our frustration with government efficiency and question why we seem to hold government to a different standard.   Certainly, much of the private sector runs more efficiently than the public sector, but the private business is also plagued by inefficiency and bureaucracy. 

In most years, more than 20,000 businesses nationwide will file for bankruptcy. While not always the case, inefficiency, bureaucracy, incompetence and generally poor decision making often lead to business failure. Of course, sometimes businesses fail due to bad luck and market conditions. 

Unfortunately, in the public or government sector there is no punishment for inefficiency.  One simple example of this that comes to mind is the “Cash for Clunkers” program enacted by Congress in the summer of 2009. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) was tasked with implementing this program. The DOT required that dealerships submit a 13 page form to be reimbursed for each car sold and collected under this program.  Because of the programs unexpected popularity, the initial funds that were planned for 10 weeks were exhausted in just over 10 days. 

Even with tripling the DOT staff for this project, forms processing delays hurt dealerships as they waited for reimbursement.  An efficient organization would have had a contingency plan for adding staff, streamlining processing, simplifying forms, or other possibilities to move things forward. 

By late summer the Senate had authorized a tripling of the programs allotted funds, but the DOT, beyond their initial hiring effort had no plan in place to react to the additional surge of work brought on by the additional authorization of funds. 

Eventually, the managers at the DOT were able to ramp up their processing effort, but this took place many weeks after the program began. Should the DOT have been talking to the Senate? 

The bottom line is that efficiency matters, yet in government we have come to accept that inefficiency is the norm.  With our tax dollars stretched ever thinner, this is a notion that needs to change. 

At some point here, someone is going to ask about healthcare so it must be time for me to prognosticate on that subject.  I am sure someone has noticed that healthcare is missing from my list of government service expectations.

While I believe that healthcare is important, I also don’t believe it is or should be the business of government.  To start with, it is clear that the private insurance sector is marginal at delivering medical services; I have no reason to realistically believe government at any level could do any better. 

I mentioned “Safety Nets” earlier in my list of services I expect from government; this could include healthcare at the most basic maintenance level.  Even those of us with private health insurance are potentially offered a broad spectrum of medical service possibilities.  Unless we wish to turn the business of government into being a medical service provider at the expense of every other service, government funded healthcare is simply not practical. 

The simple reality is that different people in society will have access to different ranges of healthcare services.  Any attempt to provide all types of medical service to all citizens ultimately results in socialized medicine and a bill we can’t afford.  I know it sounds like I am pulling the plug on Grandma. 

If all medical care is available to everyone, shouldn’t the best housing and retirement be available to everyone as well?  This is simply an untenable path. The inherent result of a free market or pseudo free market economy is that there will always be some who have more than others.  As long as that outcome was not achieved through illegal activity or abuse it is a reasonable outcome. 

The experiments in communism during the last century showed that socializing services leads to a lack of innovation and productivity.  Even if I am not getting rich, nearly all of us will benefit when people are allowed to enjoy success and reward from their risk taking, innovation and hard work. 

I have a tough time describing this notion of not everyone succeeding at the same level without sounding mean spirited, but I suppose it can be found in our “founding documents”.  This elusive concept is the balance between the quest for Equality and desire for Freedom. In the Declaration of Independence when speaking of our rights we often point to the phrase; “Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. 

The “pursuit of happiness” is an opportunity and not a result. As such, everyone is allowed to actively pursue as much success, happiness and opportunity as they want through personal effort, zeal and maybe a little luck.  These are active verbs saying that if you work hard and there are potential rewards, you get to keep the rewards for yourself. 

If, regardless of how hard you work, you must share the majority of your bounty with others, there is really no reason to work hard.

I am an idealist at heart, but is seems clear to me that the Declaration of Independence is the philosophical goal of our society.  If you accept that idea, then the Constitution is the framework for establishing how we ensure this goal is possible including the scope and limits of governmental authority along with the relationship between our government at its citizens. 

There are currently two distinctly different views on the appropriate role of government in our society.  One role is considered more active or involved and the other is more limited. 

We have seen significant growth bursts in the involved version of government during the Roosevelt New Deal administration of the 1930’s and the Johnson administrations Great Society of the 1960’s. Anyone who believes that government is not involved in their daily lives is lying to themselves, but a lot of this involvement is good things like food safety, drug testing, building inspection  and construction standards to name a few. 

Part of our human nature is our continual creation of change.  We seem to never be satisfied with what we currently have and are always striving for more.  The critical question to ask is; should government be providing an equal outcome for all or some minimum standard such as a safety net for everyone? 

It is human nature to want what the other person has.  Many who believe in an involved role for government would be looking for it to close the gaps and inequalities through the power of government.   

In the more limited view of government, individual liberty is often touted as the theme.  If you are successful, you should enjoy all the fruits of your success.  I thoroughly believe that most people can make better decisions about their lives than their government, but I said most.  There are also plenty of people out there who need some guidance, need some minimal support and potential need some assistance.

This is of course, the outcome of allowing for unequal results.  In virtually every game there has to be a winner, just as certainly there will be a loser.  

I am in truth a political and social moderate.  I have worked hard throughout my life to better myself and would personally find a “big-brother” style government intrusive in my efforts and life.  I also feel sympathy for the people I see or read about who are not doing well in life.  This is a tough thing to say, but I feel they are entitled to some assistance from my tax dollars, but this assistance needs to and should be modest and temporary. 

While I don’t want to punish those in need, I also want to ensure I am not depriving those who have done well, the reward of better housing, better medical and better food that they have worked and strived for.  If government takes away the rewards of success to protect all in our society, we end out with no reason to challenge ourselves to be better.

I suppose it is the nature of politicians to provide convoluted answers and even more questionable solutions but I need to ask for a moment about tax credits.  Again, I respect the need to provide assistance to other, but why do some people who pay no taxes at all receive a tax credit?     

Now I am back to the question of what I deem to be the role of my government.  I stand by my initial list; there are lots of important tasks with respect to security, infrastructure, public safety, oversight, education, justice and safety nets that our government should provide.  There is also a real need for government to pursue higher levels of efficiency than they commonly demonstrate. 

At the same time it is important to accept the notion that government cannot solve all problems, nor can it provide equality for all.  I like knowing that my taxes are going to food inspection, public education, drug safety, banking oversight, roads, defense and a justice system.  I fear the notion of providing a large national medical system.

Our Constitution is written in the form of a contract because it is effectively a contract between each citizen and their government.  Contracts are generally designed to set boundaries such that each party knows what is expected of them and can be successful in their own way. 

If government is too small, oversight will be lacking which leads to a very powerful few taking advantage of, or abusing others.  If government is too big, there is no striving for innovation and success because there is little if any reward for that effort. 

If you were reading this with an expectation of learning exactly what government should and should not do, I have most likely frustrated you because I did not specifically answer that question.  I have tried with only a little bias to present the liberal, conservative, big government, and small government perspective. 

Ultimately, government cost money and if you are unwilling to pay for the service, you should not arbitrarily expect favorable results.  As our entitlement programs, debt and deficit grow the question of what you can realistically expect from your government with its limited pool of tax revenue will become more and more critical.

Please remember that as humans we are continually creating change.  This means that regardless of what we thought was good government yesterday, it will likely be something different tomorrow.  Remember, it still comes down to that elusive target of the quest for equality and desire for freedom. 

How much freedom do you want to give up approaching equality, and how far removed from equality do you want to be to achieve freedom.  Government is ultimately the regulator of where this line in the shifting sands is drawn….and you are supposed to be the regulator of government.