Both Oars In Every Party has a Host

Jun 18, 2010

Michael Kinsley, writing about the Tea Party Patriots in a recent column in "The Atlantic," wryly points out, “The government’s main function these days is writing checks to old people. The checks allow people to retire and pursue avocations such as going to Tea Party rallies.” Point well taken. Evidently, one can bite the hand that feeds them.

Additionally, it is notable that many of the Tea Party rallies occur in public places maintained by taxes. In fact, even the historical reference point of the Tea Party is a National Park supported with—gasp!—federal funds. I suspect that the barbecued pork served at the Tea Party rallies is also USDA inspected. Damn, big government!

There is a certain inherent irony in every political action in this great country, especially those aimed at denigrating the government. I remember thinking the same thing about several of the anarchist rallies, the most notable of which was the Seattle WTO Riots in 1999. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read that participants at one rally scheduled their actions in coordination with the mass transit schedule. More recently, the Second Annual Anarchist Bookfair of Los Angeles, which is held in a city park, advertised that the fair’s location is well served by public transportation. The irony abounds on all sides of the political prism.

This at times humorous contradiction between what we are yelling about and how we are living is made possible by our wonderful constitution which assures that our government, even if it lacks thrift or seems oppressively intrusive at times, is a gracious host. We are fortunate to live in a nation that not only allows criticism of the government; it supports it. 

Unfortunately, like complaining guests peeved because the shrimp ran out before we got to it, we do not always appreciate what our host has done for us. Maybe a moment of sobriety between parties is required to recount our government-managed blessings. In view of the upcoming national holiday, I have chosen my favorite four.

First, we only know what the Tea Party is because of the ubiquity of education in our great nation. I know that, sadly, Jay Leno could find a number of college grads who may respond that the Tea Party was the political group behind Prohibition, but the majority of us know at least the most important elements of our national history due the availability of public education. Thanks to the focus on education in this country, we are the second most educated nation in the world. Canada is first, but they have one tenth the population and all those cold, long nights to study.    

Second, we do have an amazing transportation system. We may have made some mistakes in allowing our sense of “individualism” move us away from rail and mass transit to highways, but it is amazing that we have sufficient roads for mail to get to rural areas where even horses are scarce. On top of that, all of our major cities have mass transit systems, including LA, where apparently only the anarchists use the bus. Proudly, New York, Chicago and Washington rank among the top mass transit systems in the world.

Third, we have an ever improving health system. We complain, but we are generally served. Our system may be the most expensive in terms of GDP and may provide less than full coverage, especially, regrettably, for the working poor. However, the anarchist that gets a busted head when he meets with the butt end of the law and the codger that gets a little too excited at a Tea Party and collapses will both end up in an emergency room getting treatment. Thank God and Country for that. Two-thirds of hospitals are non-profit and half of the remaining third are public. The government has always been pro-care; it’s just a question of how to do it well.

Fourth, how about those parks? Not only can we boast having the oldest national park, Yellowstone, we also have the most nature reserves listed on the World Heritage list of any nation. Just the national system of parks encompasses nearly 85 million acres. Taken collectively as a country, our national parks would rank 96th among the 233 countries of the world in terms of size. Think how much further up the list this land mass would be if we added in local and state parks.

It is only polite to recognize the efforts of one’s host from time to time. The US Government is not the enemy, but the gracious provider of our health, security and financial welfare— all of which rank pretty high in the world. Sure we can trim and streamline. But, I assure you, since I live and work in country that has been at times without a government and has yet to have sufficient government, that having one is better than not and more is better than less.