Ryan ChartrandThere’s been a shortage of cheery news stories lately. Wall Street’s slumping, our country’s still pursuing entangling foreign engagements with relish and socialism dawns anew in all its foolish glory. Yet, in a small sense, the bad news is actually good news, the tragedies are really just well-played comedies, and, for some, the joke is finally being understood.
Across the country and in blissful ignorance of political party orientations, the realization that the emperor has no clothes is beginning to sweep the nation. I note, as one of many examples, the recent uproar over some of Obama’s appointees’ failures to pay previous taxes. Isn’t it ironically humorous that the very gentlemen who inspire and support the overspending habits of our government themselves negligently fail to contribute to the pot? Perhaps they know something we don’t.
Contrary to what our dear leaders and their devoted minions would have us believe, suspicion and doubt towards our government is actually a very healthy state for the American mind. Our Founding Fathers would have wished it so. The assumption of incorruptibility in government is a na’ve, dangerous one that history has amply discredited. Eternal vigilance is what our Founders advised, and for a very simple reason, a reason which seems to have only recently been remembered: government tends towards corruption and tyranny.
It is in this light that many have rediscovered patriotism. Patriotism is not the willingness to gullibly and submissively surrender to anything the government touts as truth. Even as little as a few months ago, one might have heard vocal members of the Left broadcasting this timeless message when it concerned the past president’s unconstitutional warring habits. Of course, now that a new leader has assumed the reigns, any skepticism towards our government’s latest schemes prompts the dutiful Left to sound off shrill, ad hominem denouncements of pessimism and waning patriotism. Nevertheless, patriotic skeptics are here and will, let us hope, remain for a very long time.
In these days, one will be overwhelmed with news columnists wringing inky hands over this recent, deplorable “loss of faith” in the government. But this sacred article of the faith is one we could do without, and this ugly view that we are getting of the government’s backside is not a new one, it is just refreshingly honest. Still, many seem vexed, confused and distraught over our “loss of faith” in the government. Admittedly, it is true that our government houses a large population of rascals and villains, and this is regrettable. But let us not attempt to gloss over this unfortunate result of human nature. Let us instead denounce the false faith that would have us place our trust in any one man, group of men or system of government. Even our fiat money system does not endorse such an inevitably disappointing prospect. Examine the words inscribed on a penny sometime.
While many are awakening to the fact that Washington, D.C. is not a spotless arena swelling with individuals determined to do right on our behalf, that’s just a start. Many are also growing disgruntled over the wayward spending habits of our government. Take the stimulus package, approaching a staggering trillion dollars.
Some have dubiously accepted the words of our leaders that all this money (coming from our paychecks and those of our children) is to be spent for our own good, somehow effecting a magnificent change in the economy that we could not have accomplished by spending the money ourselves.
But the more discerning among us have realized that the “economic stimulus” is really just a mislabeled cover for a government stimulus. Since the New Deal, there has not been such a sweeping expansion of federal powers. It is disturbing to see the president, the one of hope, stooping to the same tactic employed by his predecessor. Last time, it was “They (insert axis of evil member) will kill our women and children, so let us go to war!” This time it’s, “Our economy is in the ditch, we’re all screwed, unless you allow for massive government spending.” Fear is the common catalyst, and crises are always optimal periods of government
growth.
Economic crunches are not fun and they affect us all. But that’s no excuse to lose our heads. In these times, they’re the most valuable asset we have. And let’s not forget to laugh every now and then as the comedy unfolds.
Jeremy Hicks is a 2008 political science graduate, the founder of the Cal Poly Libertarian Club and a Mustang Daily politcal columnist.