ELIZABETH WARREN, THE OPPOSITE OF: “GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM”

 

...Massachusetts Senator, Elizabeth Warren

 

This senator will never apologize for being pro-government where it’s appropriate.

 

Senator Elizabeth Warren…..No, I am not going to push for Ms. Warren to run for the top US job over that of Hillary Clinton.  But I do hope Hillary runs.

However, I do think that this is one individual that deals with an important issue regarding America’s democracy, much better than any other American politician.

I say this because I think that many, maybe most, moderate to progressive Democrats have forgotten that this is a capitalist nation.  In addition, that being the case, it means that being pro-business also means we must be pro-government.

What say you?  Why would a dyed-in-the-wool, pro-business capitalist even consider that we could also be pro-government?

Well, Ms. Warren makes it very clear in her new book, “A Fighting Chance”, where she recalls the response she once gave during a Massachusetts living-room meeting she had in her 2011 Senatorial campaign.  The answer she gave, quickly went viral on YouTube.

Here are the basics of that response she made to her living room audience:

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own…nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.” It was all part of “the underlying social contract,” she said, this is what most Democrats forget to keep reminding the nation.  That being, that government deserves a place in our world instead of all of today's Koch Brothers paid-for, anti-government rhetoric.

All this anti-government rhetoric originally started back in the early 1980’s.  This was when the GOP President, Ronald Reagan’s told all of America that, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”  This was also the era of the “Reagan Democrats”, where many disillusioned Democrats also started believing the Republican anti-government rhetoric, which is to this day, still the basis of the GOP political talking points.

Elizabeth Warren is a true original that came to the American public’s attention when she was fighting back the conservatives, while she was establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

 

But her book isn't about the CFPB.  It's about giving the average American a "fighting chance" to succeed in America.  It's also about why government is not a dirty word. 

 

In her book Ms. Warren talks about a discussion she once had with a Mr. Michael Grimm (R-NY), and a former FBI agent that told her, “he didn’t believe in government”.

Yes, I’m serious.  This was a republican House member, and a former government employee, that had said to Ms. Warren, face-to-face, that he didn’t believe in government….?

Ms. Warren said in her book, “…..someday I had hoped to get a chance to ask him: Would you rather fly an airplane without the Federal Aviation Administration checking air traffic control? Would you rather swallow a pill without the Food and Drug Administration testing drug safety? Would you rather defend our nation without a military and fight our fires without our firefighters?”

This is the part where Ms. Warren is so good at reminding people about issues such as roads, dams, bridges and airports don’t build themselves.  She also reminds people that the reason that American fast-food chains are so popular in China and other less regulated nations is not because the locals really love the American fast-food.  It’s because they know they won’t get sick or die from eating American fast food.  Yes, all the foreign McDonalds and KFC outlets import their "government inspected American food" for their foreign outlets, just to make sure it’s safe for serving to the local customers.

When people ask Ms. Warren, "If she is so pro-government, isn’t that the same as being anti-business?"

Warren says, it’s quite the opposite. “There’s nothing pro-business about crumbling roads and bridges or a power grid that can’t keep up.  There’s nothing pro-business about cutting back on scientific research at a time when our businesses need innovation more than ever. There’s nothing pro-business about chopping education opportunities when workers need better training.”

Warren is the best person to have explain that there is a place for business and a place for government. 

Unfortunately, the Republicans have been very successful at turning the word “government” into a 4-letter word.  They will be the first politicians to declare their anti-government slogans on the steps of the nation’s Capital.  But they will be the first to complain if the government’s FAA had to shut down their Reagan DC airport, for keeping their heading-home airplanes from taking off in bad weather.

Elizabeth Warren will never apologize for supporting government being a big part of our American society. 

 

In fact, she is the antithesis of Reagan’s, “…government is the problem”

Copyright G.Ater  2014