In his latest book, The Myth America Pageant, Robert Wickes takes a critical look at the state of government today. In his eyes the Republicans and Democrats have blurred into one amoebic mass, caring little for the "Ordinary Joe," while happily feathering their own personal nests along the way.
I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Wilkes about the sorry state of affairs. He is a lively guy, with very strong opinions.
Great book, I enjoyed it a lot, where did you get the idea from?
In 2004, I developed a severe headache from beating my nugget against the wall for most of the campaign season. Like most of the country, I got pretty tired of hearing candidates from both sides, aided and abetted by a news media with its own agenda, pose and preen and indulge us with their munificent wisdom and imply that only they could save us Ordinary Joes from ourselves. So I decided somebody needed to tell “the rest of the story.” And, what with my recently swelled head and all, I figured it might as well be me. Politics are what the military would call a target-rich environment - you don’t have to be an “expert” to hit something.
I really enjoyed the "air conditioning" story that you attribute to your father. Has he read the book?
I’ve heard a lot flimsier reasoning from a lot more learned icons than dear old Dad. He’s a card-carrying member of the Tom Brokaw-named “Greatest Generation” who lived through the Great Depression, and fought in WWII. We should all be so fortunate as to have their perspective. And, God bless him, at 91 he’s still writing his Congressman, going to American Legion meetings, and hosting political discussions at his home. The country’s really going to miss these guys. His Congressman, of course, won’t miss him a bit.
You point out many things that are wrong with big government, and actually make some recommendations about how to fix it. Do you think that anything will change in the foreseeable future?
Wait a minute… Okay, sorry, but my side was hurting from laughing so much. Do I think things will change? Yes, but not for the better. Chapter five tells you why. Long story short, we have lost balance and contrast between the major political parties. In the past we had one side arguing for limited government and one side arguing for an ever expanding role of government. That tug-of-war kept the nation from swinging too far or too quickly to either side. Now all we are given is a choice between Republican big government solutions and Democrat big government solutions. And yet we’ve just witnessed an entire century of failed experiments in Big Government-governments. Such failures, however, do not deter our wizards in Washington from figuring they know how to do it better. Why? Because the bigger the government the greater the power of those in power. The prize keeps getting bigger for them and the momentum is probably too great to reverse. It will take a major catastrophe, probably financial, for the nation to wake up. And even then, we’ll expect the wizards to have the answer instead of realizing that the wizards were actually the problem. We’ve been in Plato’s Cave too long.
Article comments
1 - Jack Everett
Mr. Wickes,
Without big government the USA would be another Mexico!
What is your alternative?
2 - Sarah Johnson
You said that anyone decent enough to be trusted wouldn't get involved with politics. Does this mean you think Obama, Clinton, et al aren't decent enough to be trusted? Thanks for taking the time to comment.
SJ
3 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
4 - Simon Barrett
I am pretty certain that Robert will want a piece of this action! I will use the cattle prod on him! There will be answers soon!
5 - Rob Wickes
Mr. Everett,
I believe that without big government the USA would be the USA"as designed! The Founding Fathers intended a limited government whose primary charge is to provide an umbrella of protection of individual rights under which we could all manage our own lives through the free enterprise, personal accountability, and the voluntary associations which we call civil society.
The U.S. Constitution very clearly and very precisely states all the powers that were to belong to Congress. Later, in the Bill of Rights it very clearly and very precisely states that any power not specified as a power of Congress is reserved either for the states of for the people. There are two loopholes: The commerce and welfare clauses. They have been used to justify virtually unlimited government expansion beyond the approximately twenty powers listed in Article I, Section 8 even though the Founding Fathers intended none of it. Madison even said something to the effect that if they’d wanted Congress to have unlimited power they wouldn’t have bothered listing their specific powers.
So, if we get rid of everything else from the federal budget outside those 20 things do we end up with Mexico? Heck NO! Mexico's government has much corruption and the rule of law has been subverted to the rule of whim.
We maintain our law and order with a limited government, and society is what happens underneath the umbrella. Our country became great not because of what the government DID, but because of what the government did not do. It mostly left us alone to take our risks and seek to discover, to innovate, to create, to explore, and to produce. And so we did.
The question you should be asking is “If we keep allowing Big Government to get BIGGER, what will happen? The answer is to look at the past century of failed experiments in big government"socialism, fascism, communism, and a whole bunch in between. There are but three political states: Liberty, tyranny, and chaos. In any society in which there is law and order, the real political spectrum, therefore, spans from individualism to totalitarianism. All human conflict springs from the imposition of will by one person or group over another. Therefore the further you wrest control of one’s own life from his own grasp the more likely you are to create conflict and the closer you venture towards tyranny in order to maintain law and order.
6 - Rob Wickes
Ms. Johnson,
We are at an interesting time in our democracy. We used to have philosophically distinctive candidates advocating either for private sector expansion with limited government control over our lives versus those who lobbied continuously for a bigger government role. Since 2000, we seem to only manage to field candidates who main differences contrast Republican Big Government solutions versus Democrat Big Government solutions.
Candidates Obaba and Clinton are certainly big government advocates. With their past actions and stated intensions to take over the US healthcare industry that actually raises their title to full-fledged socialists. Americans don’t want to here those kinds of words on their candidates or in their political conversations, but that’s what big government is all about. I delve at length in the first few chapters of the book into the various economic and sociologic philosophies and once we’re finished the reader has a pretty clear view of the flaws of each.
Candidates today are running for offices from which they will be able to wield enormous influence in a multitude of ways over my personal and business life. No way am I going to yield that trust easily. By the time most candidates are running for national offices, their lust for power easily replaces the desire to do good they may have entertained at one stage in their careers.
My rules: Challenge convention. Question everything to hear. If I’m going to get something only because someone else is going to give it up, there’s something seriously wrong.
7 - Rob Wickes
Please excuse the typos in my last post. I ought to claim that I am the victim here! The medicolegal/pharmaceutical industrial complex forced me to have shoulder surgery 2 days before and I should not be held responsible for writing under the influence of insufficient REM time and excess pain medication. If I were a big government advocate I'd point to this as a perfect example of why we ought to have universal health care, because people are obviously incapable of looking out for themselves.
Instead, I'll use the classic phraseology of such philosophical libertarian icons as John Locke and simply say,"Me Bad!"