Throughout their history the federal agencies of the United States government have garnered a wide variety of reputations. The public sentiment is deserved as often as not. The negative side has contributed to a loss of faith in our institutions. After over two hundred and fifty years of effort, the conservative agenda to dismantle those institutions is dangerously close to success.
What I think is lost on the average citizen is that the primary mission of every single federal agency is to protect the lives of US citizens. Destroying those agencies, preventing them from accomplishing their mission, will have deadly consequences. The angel of death will not discriminate by political affiliation.
The Department of Agriculture protects us from famine. The Department of Commerce protects us from economic collapse. The Department of Defense protects us from state-sponsored violence. The Department of Health and Human Services protects us from plague. The Department of Labor protects the well-being of workers. There is at least one agency devoted to every major threat.
These institutions aren’t always successful or efficient. At times some have committed truly unspeakable acts. Even all those flaws combined do not justify throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The only solution is to reform these agencies to serve us better in the future. To eliminate them and abort the mission is to accept literal death.
Imagine if a local fire department screwed up and failed to save a home. Later it was found that the fire marshal was very corrupt. Even in such a scenario nobody in their right mind would suggest completely eliminating the fire department.
Yet, that is precisely the policy of the Republican party. Throughout all of history, it has been the chief principle of all conservative ideology. Never has it been put more concisely than in Wilhoit’s law.
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protectes[sic] but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time.
Almost every time the government saves someone’s life it is because the law has protected a member of the out-group. And almost every time the governement prevents someone from dying, they do it by using the law to bind a member of the in-group.
Who are these groups? Of course all roads lead to capitalism. The in-group has always been capital and the out-group has always been labor. Originally it was slave labor. After emancipation, labor it remains.
Every ounce of help we citizens get from the federal government makes us less dependent on private enterprise. Every regulation to ensure our health and safety cuts into profits. Strength in the social safety net directly translates to power to demand higher wages.
Shall we have cars that pollute and kill us or safe and reliable public transportation? Shall we have free equitable health care for all, or for-profit insurance that denies claims? Shall we provide free quality education to all, or shall universities only accept the privileged and wealthy?
Every single issue at stake fits neatly in this frame. It’s our lives up against their wallets.
I’ve been saying it for awhile. The most important thing for us to do in our fight against this evil regime is to survive. Yes, there is much more work to do beyond that. Those who are able must protest, disobey, and resist; but survival must come first. When their end goal is destruction, our continued existence is a rebellion of is own.
A donkey attempting to battle an elephant will be swiftly crushed. Instead embody the spirit of the immortal cockroach.
Just as an aside, we all know why they are doing it, but I find it very ironic that Republicans are the ones attempting to eradicate the FBI. The progressive message of defunding the police did not go over too well. Yet, Republicans are out here actually doing it. Spread the word. Republicans are defunding the police.