A Good Word For Our Government

I am not afraid of my government. I suppose that is because having worked in it for more than a few years, I have an idea how it functions. The right wing is the worst demonizing and fear mongering about men in black doing this or that evil thing to them, on a whim. And while there is certainly concern about too much power currently given policing agencies throughout the state and fed government, that is mostly a function of a right wing court for several decades, and too many citizens favoring tough policing, and that excesses won’t happen to them. But there are those on the left who feed this paranoia outsized to reality.

Our fed government is, and has been, and should be considered one of the good things about this country, and is actually very resistant to much tampering by politicos from any ideological stripe and ill intent. It is like the immovable object and irresistible force all at once. And has been built over the centuries to resist change and manipulation for broader pol purposes.

If you have worked for any federal agency, you would know that everything, and I mean everything, is under this or that regulation, that almost always chugs along as a force unto itself, toward whatever purpose it was created by congress, in the first place.

This mindset is reinforced by many layers of oversight, both internal and external to any one agency or department. It is a matrix set in near concrete, and only changes slowly, or by direct congressional mandate.

That does not mean what congress directs the government bureaucracy to do should be taken as something that should be done, but it does mean, it can within human imperfections, be expected to do what it is ordered to do by the congress and the president and the courts.

This bullshit about blown up fear from right or left that the government is a big boogyman out to get your ass, is simply, by and large bullshit. And most of the time, when folks in positions of responsibility go off the reservation, they get caught at it. It is very difficult to get away with misbehavior for very long, even at the top levels, without people finding out.

So, by all means, keep an eye out for shit like the Patriot ACT to remain temporary, and restrained, and other borderline shit, and agitate like hell to curb excess police powers the courts and congress have created, but fuckers like Chuck Norris, the right wing in general, and some on the left. Give it a rest, trying to make citizens terrified of their government through exaggerated accusations, without any or much evidence, to back up such claims.

We really do, with all our many other problems, have a solid federal government, that moves like a mindless robot doing what the regulations say it should do.