A Little Kitchen Table Project

Talk about distraction! Thomas Sowell in a rambling piece, “Politicians’ top goal? Distraction” blames politicians and government for all of our frustrations and anger.

Meanwhile, the Tea Baggers meet and vent, and organize resentment. But are these real or a product of other kinds of distractions and lies.

I propose everyone try this little experiment. According to Sowell’s rant, we are “selling our freedom” cheap to intrusive government.

Sit with a cup of coffee or tea (?) with a piece of paper and list how intrusive government altered your life in the past week. Since Tea Baggers are screaming (literally) that they might have to revolt to protect their freedoms, we should all make a list of the freedoms we are losing, the bureaucratic forces that alter our lives.

Let’s see: I can list this week….I guess I resent the stop sign cameras although I haven’t had a ticket. I bought lunch and paid some tax (I guess). I bought gas and it had a tax and ingredients to keep air cleaner. Huh, I’m having trouble here. Most of my contact with government this week were helpful, not harmful.

Oh that’s right, I’ve “never ran a business” and didn’t have to deal with labor law or other regulations that have brought a clean, safe work place and workers’ rights that in many cases have decreased the need to unionize. I suppose there is trouble there, I used the dirty word, “union”.

Oh, yes, I was kept from going to the City Council Meetings to protest the Oasis interchange. Citizens’ concerns have stalled that project. Let’s see, I used to get parent complaints as a school administrator about everything, but we just stonewalled them. Wait a minute, we did meet with them, there was a site council and a school board that allowed all sorts of citizen input.

The truth is the distraction going on here is from the right. Their rant about big government is meant to distract us from an economy that has been tilted to the rich, corporate influence is out of control, aristocracy is flourishing. The sad thing is many middle class people are buying this garbage, blaming the government for everything, forgetting that the government is us. Democracy still works.