More Government Is Not the Answer
Written on September 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm, by Patrick McSweeney
From Virginia Citizen (February 1992)
As Virginians, we face a challenge equal to any challenge in our history: How can we solve severe and persistent social and economic problems, such as crime, homelessness, school dropouts, poverty, family disintegration, teen suicides and pregnancies, and recession, without more government?
Conservatives have been good at identifying the problems with government. Our criticisms of smothering regulation, stifling bureaucracy, growth-killing tax increases, self-perpetuating government programs, and laws and policies that discourage private initiative, erode individual responsibility and undermine community, have been on the money.
What we have not done well is to deliver a positive message – - a vision of how the real problems that Virginians face – - can be solved in most instances through private action and without new and expanded government programs. It is a measure of how far we have departed from this philosophy and faith of the great Virginias – - Mason, Henry, Randolph, Madison, Jefferson, Monroe, and others – - that many no longer have genuine confidence in our ability as private citizens to solve those problems that most concern us. When we confront those problems, our first impulse is to pass a law. Increasingly, we have come to expect government to take care of us.
Our political system encourages this view. In a contested campaign, the candidate who offers a government program to solve a problem generally has a significant advantage over an opponent who offers no program or even a less ambitious one. Only when the cumulative weight of these government programs becomes a political issue is this advantage overcome.
But even when that happens, it seldom lasts, because this public opposition is essentially a reaction.
It lacks any firm rooting in a coherent philosophy or view of life that offers a way to solve problems over the long term. It is fed by an anti-government, anti-tax, get-off-my back emotion that soon abates when the painful realization sets in that our social and economic problems have not gone away and, in fact, may have gotten worse.
We must do more than shout slogans and ride the occasional crest of voter dissatisfaction with big government and high taxes. We must offer an alternative that holds the promise of solving problems without more and more government.
Our task is much more difficult than for those who have a faith in government. We can’t offer a simplistic proposal to create a new agency, a new program, a legislative fiat that will cure every new problem. A private solution is always more complex, more difficult to explain and not as easy to implement as passing a new law or raising taxes. Even worse, years of dependence on government have dampened our understanding of how private institutions, churches and families, can meet our needs.
We face a three-fold rebuilding task. First, we must resist the simplistic political sloganeering by candidates and elected officials who lure voters with promises of government “solutions” to every problem. Second, we must restore our faith and confidence in private institutions, and reestablish a framework of understanding in which Virginians can once again see private alternatives as possible. Third, we must be prepared as individuals to do more directly and actively to rebuild the strength and vitality of private institutions, particularly families, churches, voluntary associations, neighborhoods, and small communities. Our vision should proceed from the understanding that our most daunting social problems can best be addressed by our acceptance of moral responsibility.
