Government As Business

                                                                                          written 3 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 10 August, 2025

  

            A long-standing Republican goal is to make government into a business, implying government should make a profit.  But the business ideal is about money, a concept relatively disconnected from reality, whereas the government ideal is about servicing the real needs of the larger society. 

            For example, a half century ago the stock market closed at 821, while it recently closed at 43,589, 53 times greater.  Is the economy really worth that much more, or is the value of the dollar smaller?  In contrast, a single glass of clean water was as refreshing then as it is today, without any consideration of price.  That is the contrast between concept and reality.

            The entire business model is narrowly defined.  Most corporations have limited liability by design, protecting investment capital against total collapse.  Consequently, significant business errors are not paid by those who profited from the errors, but are shifted to the larger society.  This capitalizes the profits and socializes the losses.  

            It is possible to build infrastructure, products, and systems that are relatively safe and long lasting, but it is cheaper to cut corners.  In the siloed framework of capitalist accounting, where each part is considered independently, this makes quick money for some and leaves the problems for someone else, as if the business people aren't part of the larger society. 

            Furthermore, fraud is very profitable, substituting materials and products that are not just a little less that required, but may be completely inadequate to the task.  Products with long term liabilities, such as addictive or toxic materials, can generate massive profits before the consequences are acknowledged, and may still be produced after discovery if sufficient lawyers are hired.  At the extreme, outright theft is profitable, just taking value from others without even pretending there is an equitable trade.

            The point is that by primarily considering short term, limited fiscal gain, businesses are manifesting separation, acting as if they are fundamentally disconnected from their larger consequences.  This may work temporarily for the lucky few, but it creates wide spread misery and may eventually destroy the whole society.  Capitalism is as primordial as fire, converting potential into useable form.  But like a fire storm, unrestrained capitalism will destroy everything before it stops. 

            One response to these business excesses is creation of government with sufficient perspective and power to restrain unwanted activity.  At its finest, government works for the benefit of the whole.  Reality has a socialist bent, because we really are all in this together, much as conservatives try to deny this fact.

            When some in our society are sick, impoverished, or hungry, this eventually impacts everyone.  Resources have to be applied to eradicate or control those not nourished by the system.  As the problem grows, increasing the economic burden, the society weakens from within and becomes more vulnerable to external assault.  Like illness in our bodies, it is more cost effective to maintain health and harmony in the first place, quickly treating issues as they arise, rather than trying to fix the body once decay has set in and threatens the whole system.

            Functional government regulates business activity.  For example, theft, and fraud are illegal and punishable to take the profit out of these actions.  Standards are established and enforced for product quality, supporting wide spread marketing.  Functional government takes long term goals into account against the urge for short term gain, such as building codes for durability, seismic and fire safety, and preserving open space for future generations.  Functional government invests in the future, supporting education, basic research, and universal health care.  At local levels, government invests in the basics of modern social life: potable water, safe sanitation, and adequate transportation. 

            Most of these functions can be supplied by businesses, and are in some locations, but rather than profit, government has a goal of inclusive service, providing quality necessities, accessible to all members of society, at the lowest possible cost.

            Admittedly, what I have described is an ideal, and the reality of government can fall short.  As we see in our current Federal leadership, individuals in government can be just as greedy and unprincipled as in business.  But business will never deal with the whole of society.  It isn't profitable.  To mindlessly eliminate government, pretending it is a problem rather than a necessary balance to business, will destroy society as well as businesses.  Unfortunately, we are witnessing this unfolding today.

 

 

 

A Significant Choice

                                                                                             written 27 July, 2025

                                                                                      published 3 August, 2025

  

            It is significant how we choose to answer the question: is life happening TO me, or FOR me?  One is a choice for living in separation, being a victim.  The other is a choice for inclusion in life, being a co-creator.

            For thousands of years, and hundreds of generations, human cultures have chosen the perspective of separation.  The individual self becomes the center of everything, and the infinity of reality is perceived as a threat.  A person believes they are either predator or prey, sometimes rapidly shifting between the two.  The stranger becomes an enemy, although family and tribe can expand the small circle of safety.  Violence and war are endemic.  

            Certainty and control are perceived as necessary for security, requiring armoring up against change, which is viewed as a threat.  This fear-based perspective is taught to the next generation, believed necessary for their survival.  While this isn't the totality of culture, the view dominates, and 80-90 percent of the population is traumatized, cut off from the full experience of the human potential by multiple layers of rigid, enculturated habit.  The resulting inequitable economies and dogmatic religions have ensured social compliance.   

            The alternative choice, the perspective of inclusion, has always been present.  Some form of the Golden Rule, which is fundamentally inclusive, is found in every spiritual tradition on the planet, usually within the mystics.  But this has traditionally been a minority perspective, easily dominated by fear and violence.

            Choosing inclusion means I am part of, not apart from, the reality which nourishes all life.  Therefore, everything that happens to me, is for my benefit.  Easy to embrace when life is going well, but more difficult when problems arise.  By choosing to encounter, rather than reject, even the difficult events, I remain open to learning something new about myself and life.  

            Having been raised in a fear-based culture, armored in habitual patterns rooted in childhood, culture, and my specific physiology, my experience of the outer world is interpreted through this filter of internal programming.  Consequently, my response in the moment is often out of harmony with the demands of the moment, causing me pain and suffering.  

            If I continually choose the mindless responses arising from these old patterns, nothing changes.  But if I can see that the present difficulty is highlighting one of these patterns, noticing the habitual response rather than simply responding from the habit, there is opportunity to choose differently.  

            Even if I have difficulty accepting my participation in the creation of everything that I experience, I can appreciate how my choice of response to whatever happens IS within my power.  Even if that is the extent of my free will, it can be transformative.  

            As I evolve my internal programming, my experience of the world evolves as well.  Life becomes a process of growth, shedding obsolete patterns, becoming more conscious in the moment, expressing a more authentic self to the world.  The purpose of life shifts from craving security through acquisition of money and stuff, to acquisition of diverse experiences and manifesting more of my human potential.

            Habitual response can be marginally effective in a world where change is slow.  But the world today is changing rapidly, and old habits quickly become obsolete, irrelevant, and even dangerous.  Some of the changes come from the explosion of technological capacities, some from population pressures, and some from the consequences of longstanding mismatch between human culture and nature, now building to a head.  

            Our current national leadership, a stunning expression of fear-based separation, has accelerated the rate of change, dismantling America for short term gain.  The assault on undocumented people is adversely affecting domestic food production.  The reduction of funding for the neediest and sickest, increases community stress.  Recklessly increasing the national debt to fund billionaire tax breaks has resulted in the downgrading of US bonds on the global market.  The arrogant, on again off again, tariff bullying is destabilizing traditional trading relationships, makes long term business planning difficult, constipates supply chains, and raises prices.  The total disregard for the growing climate crisis, and massive support for accelerated fossil fuel consumption, increases further climate related destruction.  This puts the US out of step with the rest of the world, and elevates China to global leadership for the future.

            But in the face of all this, I still have the personal power of how to live my life moment to moment, choosing consciousness over fear.