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Letter: Government you hate? Help came in flood
Op-Ed · October 06, 2016
The government you love to hate, except when you need it.
Time after time when there is a disaster, the first people with their hands out for government help are the same people who rail against that very same government for daring to tax and regulate them to provide good schools, roads and bridges, clean air and water, safe food and drugs.
The Republican party created this attitude after the conservative anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-labor forces gained control of power in 1980. Now every time there is a problem, like the 2016 flood in Iowa, Republican governors, mayors, legislators and the enablers who elected them are first in line for help while complaining about the speed of the government response.
It’s fashionable these days to complain about taxes and tax increases no matter what the purpose. Remember the fuel tax increase which Republicans fought against for years while our roads and bridges deteriorated. Does anyone even notice it today when you fill up?
It’s popular to be against regulations when they affect you no matter how much they protect someone else or the general public, but just wait until it’s your food, water or air that is contaminated. That’s a different story.
Want good schools, mental health care, clean water, good streets, roads and bridges, police protection, modern libraries or even care for our veterans but don’t want to pay any taxes?
Even Donald Trump wants a strong military. Just how does he, who doesn’t pay any tax, and the rest of you who support the anti-tax Republican Party think we’ll pay for it and everything else. Just keep borrowing?
Think about the role government has in what you do each day. Who pays for that? What would you go without?
Our Founding Fathers certainly were not anti-government when they wrote our Constitution as you can clearly see by reading the preamble which spells out its purpose. Reading further you will find in Article I Section VIII, Powers Granted to Congress. The first three powers are: 1. The power to tax, 2. To borrow money, 3. To regulate. All of these were designed to fulfill the promise of the preamble.
We are in danger of failing to be the nation we could be as long as the Republican Party remains anti-government and that will never change as long as voters are willing support their selfish and shortsighted goals.
Larry Hodgden
Tipton
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