An American Problem

Many Amerians, up to 50%, think government is either not helpful for them, or totally evil. many do not even know exactly what it does. An example can shed light on the two parties and their voters reacting to a familiar situation.

A man is working a minimum wage job, he has some skills in some area now, but only a high school diploma. He loses his job. He has a wife and two kids, one is two weeks old. He applies for a night/early morning shift at Target to load shelves or unload the truck three times weekly. The Target survey asks him all kinds of team work oriented questions, usually in an on-line survey. They flag him as a conspiracy nut.

The Democrats want to help. Need funds for counselors, therapy, rehab. Get this man back to a minimum wage job. They want to help! They need funds and professionals.

The Republicans want to help too. He should not be singled out. Everybody is paranoid now, the government is left wing CONSPIRACY! The man is right. Give him more guns, have him talk to the Christian pastor and give him the Constitution and Bible to read. No cost to government. No unemployment benefits past 8 weeks. He can get some job doing work outdoors! All those guys are the same and hate government, he will be in good company!

And since no counselors are needed, cut that university funding too, leave a few shrinks for the liberal elite for private use.

It may sound exaggerated, but this is exactly how things go here. The working poor rely on friends, neighbors and relatives for a safety net. One book claims this is the main reason working class people are reluctant to move. They would have to pay for services at the new location, whereas they can each pitch in and help out in their spare time and also barter for skilled jobs such as minor home repairs. Many can replace their own roof with a few friends. In contrast, people with college degrees have national networks of friends, so they have help getting those out of town jobs. And they can afford to pay for daycare and other services.

The Trump voters in the working class may be racists, but they see the help going to refugees and other immigrants as unfair. Those people get help from the government for a short term, helping them settle. The working poor have to figure these things out without that help.

It is of course understandable that people who do not care for the government do not want any of their services coming from the government. Yet they still want things like healthcare. Both Obamacare and Medicare are a compromise. The service is coming from private hospitals and doctors. Only the insurance is regulated by the government. With private insurance, it still adds a chunk to the healthcare bill, since there are two sets of people fighting to give or deny the care to the patient holding the policy. This is totally unproductive work. Only malpractice should be left to courts and lawyers.

The country is divided. The educated elite benefit from the government. Some even work for the government. Yet all those agencies have failed to explain to uninterested citizens why it is needed. The benefits of the EPA or FDA can't be seen till you remove them for a while.