Good to Great Government vs. none at all

So I am reading this article about Obama and the 2012 presidential race. In particular, the conservative direction it.  The opinion writer mentions a Mitt Romney campaign trail quote, “This is an election not to replace a president but to save a vision of America,” he declared. “It’s a choice between two destinies.” ...he urged voters to ask: “Who are we as Americans, and what kind of America do we want for our children?”

See the article here: E.J. Dionne Jr. writes about Obama the conservative in the Washington Post

E.J. Dionne goes on to write that Obama is defending a tradition that sees government as an essential actor in the nation’s economy, a guarantor of fair rules of competition, a countervailing force against excessive private power, a check on the inequalities that capitalism can produce, and an instrument that can open opportunity for those born without great advantages.

Here is what I can say about who I am as an American and what I want for our children.

I want what Dionne articulates Obama wants.

I am a strong, hardworking, dedicated mother who was raised to believe that my role as an American is to grow myself, my skills and talents, share them for productive value in my community, prosper, thrive, and nurture a family. My job is to leave this place better off than when I arrived and to ensure that I have grown the resource base of the nation and the earth rather than diminish it.

Theory teaches us that the purpose of government is to intervene where private markets fail or fail to exist. More specifically, government's role, according to some, is to provide public goods and redistribution. Since market systems allow for individuals to create and allocate goods and services for private benefit at private cost, the social benefits and costs have to be accounted for with certain goods. These public goods are the ones typically inadequately supplied in the private sector. Education, pollution control, and national defense are common examples in the economic textbooks.

I rely on government to educate my child because I choose to work full-time and thus am not free to educate him myself. The purpose of government , what it used to be, what it is, and what it should be could be a great conversation for this nation to have. I have tended to believe that presidential elections were indeed a big part of that conversation.


Granted, what is needed from government today has evolved over time and through marketplace advancements that have been faster than public sector evolution. The way our governments work, what they provide, and how they provide it is an ongoing and important political debate. Yet the politics of 2012 are not about that.  They are about whether government needs to exist at all. There are many places where government works well but not necessarily efficiently and my response to that is increase efficiency. There are places where government does not work. Questioning whether it should work and how it could work is an important part of any consideration about the role of government. Yet defenders of government are so beat up and on the ropes, that kind of nuanced discussion gets lost. The fight is government or no government.

I'd rather the fight be about good government or great government. I am not fooled. Romney and other candidates are not really in a sincere debate about who we are as Americans. He and others are in a debate about some Americans versus other Americans. These Americans getting over because of, or at the expense of, those Americans.

I'll also note that government is a word, a term, that actually refers to layers of public sector participation. Typically all of them are thrown together as one big, bad monster when it is convenient in the midst of debate. Yet there is also a regular pattern of separation, when it is politically convenient, to acknowledge the power and strength of the states. Then the debate becomes one about the big, bad, ugly federal government versus the little, efficient, wonderful states. BUNK I say! These are false and unproductive distinctions that have more to do with trying to knock the guy out of the White House than any real valuable and important economic or social value.

We are going to have to pay closer attention than we have done before. If we blink or snooze we are going to wake up on some new form of the plantations of old.

What's got the President's tongue?

When I saw this email subject line in my box at work, I first thought., "Yes, what, or more specifically, who has his tongue? " then I opened it to see the playful picture.  Yet I am left wondering who is speaking for the President? or, rather, who is the President speaking for ? 'cause if he thinks he is speaking for me he needs to speak up!

 The White House <info@messages.whitehouse.gov> 12/27/2011 12:05 PM

Your Daily Snapshot for Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011 What's got the President's tongue?    Eight-month-old Cooper Wagner grabs President Barack Obama's face while taking a picture with his parents, Captain Greg Wagner and Meredith Wagner, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama visited with members of the military and their families during Christmas dinner at Anderson Hall. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In Case You Missed It Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog: Hanukkah at the White House: History of the 2011 Menorah Watch this video that tells the story of the lamp at the center of this year's White House Hanukkah celebration, which was created in a displaced persons camp following WW2 and dedicated to an American general. Behind the Scenes Roundup: Holidays at the White House Some of our favorite videos take you inside the White House for the 2011 holidays. Weekly Address: The President and First Lady Thank our Troops for their Service as we Celebrate the Holiday Season The First Couple offer a special holiday tribute to some of the strongest, bravest, and most resilient members of our American family – the men and women who wear our country's uniform and the families who support them. The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Mary, Did You Know? and Pam, Do You?

As I listen to the words of a beautiful Christmas song, “Mary, Did You Know”, the words touch my heart and move me to tears.  The music is absolutely elegant and the message is phenomenal.  It includes a phrase

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?

And to some extent, I think the bible teaches us that she had a clue.  I cannot imagine what kind of parent she was. What did she do when Jesus wandered out into the path of horses or other animals in transit? how did she raise him? discipline him? protect him? what did she feel? was she scared day in and day out? worried? faithful? Did God talk to her regularly and remind her of her son’s purpose? Did she feel empowered by that purpose ? or frightened by it?

Then I wonder what kind of parent would I be, how different than the one I am now, if God told me what he told Mary. Would I have more discipline and self-control and never lose my temper? Did Mary? Would I never grow weary from work and school, and cooking, and cleaning, and .......... ? Did Mary?

Kimberly Locke's MP3 of Mary Did You Know?

 (which I played more than 50 times on Christmas Day)

Another line in the song states,

Did you know that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?

This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

I have no doubt that the work of parenting changes me, changes us all, and has us work to bring out the very best in us in ways that no other relationship or experience ever can.  Come hell or high water, I am totally transforming year after year and I always assume it is God’s plan. Within that assumption is the notion that what I was before is what I am being delivered from... and there is someplace special, better, that I shall be delivered to.

The song continues,

Did you know that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?

When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?

While I believe God is within all of us, I am rarely present to the feeling that emanates from that belief. The lyrics suggest a tender, gentle image, one that fades as the baby becomes a boy, losing some innocence and becoming more knowledgeable of man’s worldly ways. As my son approaches his ninth birthday I rarely get to kiss his face let alone feel the divine presence within him.

How easy it is to be caught up in the day-to-day living that we lose sight of the divine! It seems so hard to me to keep the forces of commercialism and capitalism at bay in respectable yet distant places so that my household focus can be on the quality of our relationships, the substance of our knowledge and intellect, and the vitality of our spiritual, physical, and emotional health. It is so easy to work just a little bit longer at the office and then justify that time lost with the paycheck that buys the stuff we consume, a portion of which is not needed at all. But how tired does that job make me? how much less energy do I have for my child because I give extra at the office? What did Mary do? what kind of energy did she have? How loving, gentle, tender, patient, and gracious was she with Jesus?

The song ends with the following lines:

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?

The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am.

As a parent, I have many instances of feeling the weight of a life, a young heart, in my hands. I can be too serious and significant at times, but I am not wrong. The decisions I make, behavior I exhibit, all of it fuels my parenting, models a role for my child, and makes a way (or not) in the world for him. Shouldn’t I err on the side of more serious than less? I fear intrusion from television and media, the character development I am at work on is under construction and vulnerable to outside influence. Shouldn’t I assume the work is serious in case this boy one day rules a nation? He certainly thinks he can be the next Barack Obama and I am not saying anything to the contrary.

What if she was none of those things?

How come we don’t all act like our children might be Jesus coming back? Do we need to?