Thursday, July 28, 2011
We, the People
For the past 30 years, or better put, since the time of Reagan we Americans have lost our sense of "We, the people." The public, the community that so impressed de Tocqueville has seemingly dispersed. Oh, from time to time we come together, and become patriotic, but not to solve any problems per se.
We, the people, have come to believe that most problems are individual--for instance, if we are poor,we just are not working hard enough. That we do not need the government to step in and equalize, that the private sector will do whatever--create jobs, protect the environment, build fuel efficient vehicles. . .
We should be realizing now, that we need our government. The private sector is not creating jobs here, and not paying living wages for most jobs. The private sector is most concerned with profit.
So, the question that I put forward is: how do we regain the concept of We, the people, of public good?
We, the people, have come to believe that most problems are individual--for instance, if we are poor,we just are not working hard enough. That we do not need the government to step in and equalize, that the private sector will do whatever--create jobs, protect the environment, build fuel efficient vehicles. . .
We should be realizing now, that we need our government. The private sector is not creating jobs here, and not paying living wages for most jobs. The private sector is most concerned with profit.
So, the question that I put forward is: how do we regain the concept of We, the people, of public good?
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