Cross-posted at WinningProgressive
Recently, my friend Jeff and I were working to identify a good short description of what progressivism is and why it matters. We came up with the following – keeping rat s**t out of baby food – which is shorthand for saying that progressivism is about using the tools of government to advance important individual and societal goals that individuals cannot reasonably achieve on their own and/or that the free market will not provide.
One hundred and four years ago, Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, which exposed the horrible working and sanitary conditions in America’s meat packing industry, including the significant amount of contamination that our country’s meat supply was subjected to. There is, of course, little that individuals could do on their own to make sure that the meat they ate was not contaminated, and industry refused to act. So, the government stepped up to help, passing the Federal Meat Inspection Act. A series of food safety laws have followed, vastly improving public health and making the U.S. food system one of the safest in the world. Protecting food safety remains a struggle, as Republican deregulatory zeal and industry lobbying have led to reductions in inspections and oversight. And proposed legislation to address recent declines in food safety is being held up by a single Republican Senator. However, overall our government continues to do a good job protecting the safety of our food supply – in other words, in keeping rat s**t out of baby food.
The food safety issue is an important one because it is a prime example of where the Republicans’ constant attacks on “government” run into reality. As Spandan C. over at The People’s View recently pointed out, the Republicans’ pledge to balance the budget, cut taxes, and protect Social Security, Medicare, and defense funding, would require the elimination of everything else the federal government does by 2020. While this result would please the tea partiers and their billionaire sugar daddies, it would not be popular with the vast majority of Americans, which is probably why the Republicans refuse to identify specific programs that they would eliminate.
So, the question to pose to people complaining generally about how we need to get rid of “government” is what functions of government they think should be eliminated:
- Food safety inspections and enforcement?
- Federal environmental laws that protect our air and water quality?
- The Safe Drinking Water Act, which ensures that the water that comes out of your tap is safe?
- National Parks?
- Medical care for our veterans?
- Student loans to help people be able to afford college?
- Our federal court system, which helps ensure that we are able to settle disputes peacefully?
- Construction and maintenance of highways and bridges?
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures your bank deposits up to $250,000 and oversees the operation of banks?
- Consumer safety laws that protect us from cars catching on fire or baby cribs collapsing on your baby?
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates responses to natural disasters?
- The Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health, which oversee research into diseases, help develop cutting edge pharmaceuticals, and keep outbreaks of contagious diseases in check?
- The Food and Drug Administration, which helps ensure the safety of pharmaceuticals?
We can and should have debates over whether specific government programs should be reformed, shrunk, expanded, or eliminated, and how we improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government programs we have. The political debate today, however, is about something much more basic – namely, whether government is bad and should be eliminated outside of the military, Social Security, and Medicare, or whether government can and should play a role in helping our country achieve things that individuals cannot achieve on their own.
In short, do you want the government to keep rat s**t out of the food your baby eats, or do you want to leave that up to the free market? If the former, now is the time to get involved and make sure Congress stays in the hands of progressive Democrats in November.
