It's Cool to Trash Gubmint

I am really more than a bit tired of the trend--because that's all it is, a trend--to be against or to out and out hate government.

Like most trends, it's tiresome but this one goes beyond that. It's not just wrong but wrong-headed, too

Seems Right Wingers and Republicans and Libertarians, all, at minimum, like to rail against government. They sometimes literally say or will write, on social media, that "government doesn't do anything right."

To that I like to point out just a few of the things government has gotten us all.

The Interstate Highway System

The Social Security system, which lifted millions of Americans out of poverty and keeps millions more out of same.

Social Security Keeps 22 Million Americans 

Out of Poverty

And then there's Medicare.

Medicare Keeps Americans Healthy for the Past 50 Years

And Medicaid.

Medicaid keeps adults healthy and employed

Note that's "healthy and employed" so they can stay at work and be productive and benefit our society, locally and nationally. So there aren't just costs to Medicare and Medicaid, to be clear. There are benefits as well.

Heck, "gubmint" took us all, took man to the moon, for God's sake, no small task.

May 25, 1961: JFK's Moon Shot Speech to Congress

Government cleaned up some of our dirtiest and most-polluted rivers.

A Brief History of the Clean Water Act

Including, of course, the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency.

These Photos Show How the EPA 

Transformed America

Heck, at one point, at least a few of our rivers were so polluted, they actually caught fire.

Cuyahoga River Fire

And these are just a few, quick examples of how government actually not only works for us but helps us all, individually and collectively.

A Success Story, with Many Chapters Still to Come

Breathing Easier Because of the Clean Air Act

Cleaner air linked to bigger, stronger lungs 

in Southern California

Again, this is a case of all of us benefiting, too, due to "gubmint", these regulations called the Clean Air Act of 1970 and what it's done for us. We live longer lives, better lives, healthier lives and so, more productive lives because we require companies to pollute less. It's a total win for all, including those companies.

Have governments, has our government, at times gone wrong, done wrong by the very people it is to serve?

Of course.

Has there been, is there waste in government?

Most certainly.

But it's up to us, the people, to keep our government on the "straight and narrow." Things will go wrong, things will be done poorly or wrongly and/or not at all, at times. But government can do and has done great things, over time, certainly.

Government is, after all, us, we the people.