Larry Craig on the other side of the wall

Now that the Larry Craig saga has mostly stalled out (only pun in this post, I swear) - I wanted to point out something he talked about in attempting to defend himself through the whole ordeal.

During his October 16, 2007 interview with NBC's Matt Lauer, Craig explained his view that:

"Well-- it's always been a great privilege, Matt, to represent Idaho in Congress. And that's all I've really ever wanted to do is to go there, to be their defender, to be that wall between government and the citizen. Because government, as you know, can be very daunting to the average person."

This is why Larry is wrong: As Abraham Lincoln pointed out - our's is a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" - the belief that there needs to be a wall between people and their government does not scan. The government is the people, the people are the government.

Larry Craig is just getting in the way.

Symbols of Government

Some of you may have heard about Jim Broussard last week.

Jim Broussard is a U.S. Army Veteran who became angered after hearing that a business in his town of Reno, NV was flying the flag of Mexico above the U.S. flag.

Taking matters into his own hands, Broussard proceeded tothe business in question and with his US Army issued knife, cut down the flags.

Now, the debate over flag burning vs. freedom of speech has a long history and this episode only adds another chapter.

No matter where you come down on the debate, flags and other symbols of government are things that most people in this nation hold to be sacred.

Symbols of government is important because govenrnment is important.

If government can help, Veto it.

These are the only two reasons I can think of that Bush why Bush vetoed the S-CHIP bill.

1) He does not feel that making sure sick kids have a way to see a doctor is an important priority...compared to say, what we're spending to be in Iraq for a few days.

2) He believes S-CHIP is a first step to universal health care for all Americans. If S-CHIP continues to be successful, then its possible it will set a precedent for other government programs that might help Americans stay healthy.

Either answer reflects some twisted values. I suspect all things being equal, Bush doesn't want kids to be sick. Which means his true motive is answer #2. If S-CHIP and other programs like it work, then it undermines the whole philosophy that government programs can't help people.

The truth is, government can and does help people all the time.

Wanted: Government

Regardless of where you come down on the Iraq debate, all sides seem to agree on one thing - the linchpin for American success in Iraq revolves around the ability of Iraqi leaders to get their government organized one way or another.

Even the highest ranking military officers admit that military force alone cannot provide a long term solution for solving Iraq's security woes. Rather, the only long-term solution is political. That is, Iraq needs government.

Next time somebody comes to you and starts espousing the merits of limited government. Ask them if they think the current government in Iraq is limited enough.

Lessons Learned

I bet you heard about the problem with the shuttle Endeavor's thermal tiles and that after an extensive analysis, NASA decided that the best course was to leave the tiles alone - that they would be ok. Ever hear what happened to the shuttle? Nothing. It landed safely on August 21.

It occurs to me that despite mistakes of the past, government does learn. Case in point - the shuttle. Following the tragedy with the space shuttle Columbia last year, NASA underwent a major re-haul in how they handle things when concerns about safety are raised. They changed their culture such that when a problem came up again, everybody had a voice - and the best course was chosen.

Think about other recent government mistakes...Hurricane Katrina - has any recent mistake been worse? The government still makes mistakes in the wake of Katrina - but at least some people were taking the threat of Hurricane Dean seriously. Its still not good enough - but government does learn.

The tragedy with the miners in Utah - how did government do there? Not very well. In the last 7 years there have been 8 major mine disasters. Seems like nobody in government is learning much there.

The point is - at least government has the capacity to learn...and that capacity makes it better than any alternative. Good government learns fast - that's when it really has the ability to help its people.

The Cure

Interestingly, one of the Chinese words for "government" shares a root with a Chinese word for "to cure."

In early Chinese history, alchemists were some of the most important people around. They worked on formulas hoping to find the answer to eternal life, longevity...and seemingly by accident, discovered the secret behind gunpowder.

The work of these early chemists was greatly interwoven with other aspects of society. The solutions that these early scientists derived were synonymous with the Chinese view of government. That is, just as the right herb or tea can cure people's ailments, government has the power to cure society's ailments.

The Postman

Over the weekend I caught a rerun of the 1997 movie "The Postman" starring Kevin Costner. I've seen the movie a couple of times, but it never fails to make me think about how the most basic institutions of government are so important to a nation.

The story is based on the premise that sometime around 2015 there are a series of events that leave the United States in anarchy with small communities besieged by clan based militias. Costner's character finds an old mail delivery truck, puts on a postal uniform he finds, and proceeds to start telling people that the mail is back in service. Before he knows it, the word spreads and pony express style post offices start springing up all over to the ultimate demise of the warlords and eventual restoration of the United States.

In today's world we take the mail for granted, but in George Washington's day it was one of the most important institutions of the land. Its worth remembering that a simple government service like providing mail service means so much. In that spirit, I recall the mailman's creed:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."