Government is a business! Not.
By: Susan Brassfield Cogan
Tags: Politics, Fascism, Corruption, Trump, Government

There are thousands of articles detailing Donald Trump’s many flaws, and mistakes.

Lots of those articles are mine.

Trump is a horrible, no good, rolling shitshow of badness. Chaos and havoc fountain out of him and his family (#trumpcrimefamily) and splash sewage downward.

We all know that. Some of us are glad. Some of us are tolerant. Most of us are horrified.

I totally get all that.

So now what?

What do you do when the leadership is as useless as tits on a boar?

Brave people will try to step into the vacuum. When there is a crisis it brings out the best in a lot of people. They discover leadership abilities they never had before.

Some of them are thwarted by a jealous, incompetent blowhard with power.

Some of them don’t ask for permission and just do what needs doing.

When I saw that joke I had already started to think that the states should band together and face Trump and his lackeys as a united coalition.

They could call this coalition the “United States” or something snappy like that.

Let’s run the government like a business!

Trump & Co. (#trumpcrimefamily) are among the conservatives that think the government should be run like a business.

It’s not a business. Trump chafes at the fact that he can’t fire or punish governors he doesn’t like. They are mere middle managers, after all.

Say what?

Who owns the national stockpile of … whatever? Cheese, powdered eggs, nukes, PPE?

Since Jared Kushner thinks the government is a business, the stockpile belongs to the company. The states are company employees. That’s why it made perfect sense to him to say “The national stockpile doesn’t belong to the states.”

Hey Jared, who do you think paid for all that shit? Hint: it wasn’t you.

And the next time you yell “Nanny State!” remember that a nanny is an employee hired to serve the family.

How liberals see it

A government is a family. Everyone is pretty much required to contribute if they can, so the weakest ones are cared for … because we are humans and not lizards or lobsters. (Besides, how do you define “contribute”? Do you want Grandma to watch the baby or not?)

The government is run entirely on contributions (voluntary or not) from individuals and companies.

The government doesn’t make a product to sell at a profit.

Everything the government does from Navy Seals to school lunches is “pre-paid” by the citizens of the country.

New Orleans did not get a bill from FEMA after Katrina. The people of Louisiana had already paid for those rescue helicopters, those life jackets, those temporary lodgings, those trailers, and relocation expenses. George W. Bush wasn’t doing them a personal favor because the Louisiana governor had praised him in the correct style and amount.

Family as country, country as family.

There are many fundamental differences between conservatives and liberals. One of the most glaring differences is how we see government.

Liberals see government as a natural extension of society and society as a natural extension of family.

Conservatives see government as an oppressive external force that should be weakened, if not destroyed … well … not really. It is a massive cash cow, after all. You can give billions in contracts to friends. Said friends will now owe you bigly. It’s all just business.

When Democrats are in power, the Republicans believe (or say they believe) they are the unwilling victims of This Oppression. They are vague on what that could be. You know what’s oppressive. Just read the papers.

When Republicans are in power, well, “When you’re president they let you do anything you want. har har.” You can fire inspector generals, collude with hostile foreign powers, obstruct justice, insider trade, use foreign governments to help #trumpcrimefamily get re-elected. Anything you want.

Government is us

When you equate society with family, you have a sense of all being in “this” together. Ideas and policies are discussed and debated. Pretty much everyone agrees on the outcome even if they hotly disagree on how to achieve it. A few powerful (or wealthy) people have a lot of sway and influence, but can be overruled. It’s a bit messy and a lot of work.

A fascist dictator is also, in some ways, a parent figure. “You are frightened and weak,” he says. “I will take care of you and protect you from total annihilation.” Ronald Reagan used that line to great success. So did George Bush the Lesser. Donald Trump follows in their footsteps.

Fascist people abdicate their responsibility to govern themselves and hand that chore over to someone big and tough and strong. He’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard. Man-o-man, he’s really sticking it to the libs! har har.

You can’t be infantilized without your cooperation. The fish is never just rotten at the head.

Where does the buck stop?

I do understand that there are dysfunctional families. Society has a responsibility to help in some way if it can.

When a society — and therefore the government — is dysfunctional, then something needs to happen. That won’t happen until someone — a lot of someones — take responsibility.

I’m not saying it’s your job alone but you may need to put down the remote and get up off the couch. In extremist, you might have to vote, make a phone call, or send an email.

Or you can leave it to some strongman (and it’s nearly always a man) to run things for you.

Then you can stay on the couch.

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Susan Cogan wears a lot of different hats but she is primarily a writer. She is the author of more than a dozen books and hundreds of articles and blog posts. She is also a CTI-trained life coach, Buddhist, artist, wife, and body servant to three cats.

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