It’s not too difficult to tie a great part of the current political strategy of the core Republican party to anarchy. Basically, anarchy calls for the total absence of government. When that idea of getting rid of government is propagated to millions of Americans who have had conflicts with government at all levels, it’s not unreasonable to get traction! Problems with the IRS, traffic tickets, restraining orders, collection agencies, alimony, childcare payments, property tax, passports, airport security, corporate filings, mortgages, driver’s licenses, social security, Medicaid accessibility, ever-increasing utility bills, and heating costs all exacerbate the frustrations blamed in whole or part on the government.
It has been commonplace in my experience to have healthcare facilities, banks, stockbrokers and insurance companies tell me that the government is causing high deductibles, not granting my loan, making me disclose information to my broker, or preventing me from getting healthcare information on my dying brother. All of this is not true, but the government is often blamed for causing problems that the banks, doctors, and others put in force themselves. They just lie about it, because it’s easy to blame the government. Most people, unlike me, don’t have the knowledge to prove they are lying. The public is sick and tired of it; all of it! The average person feels it is just too damned much!
So, it’s easy then for a right-leaning segment of the Republican partisan political structure in the U.S. to yell about delivering the people from the terrible grips of the government. They claim in many cases that the government is inefficient, corrupt, or a bureaucracy trying to squeeze the life’s blood out of the average citizen. Voters easily fall in line to support the dismantling of the bureaucracy. Just get those bastards out of my life! So, in a psychological sense, this allegiance is a type of identification or transference. That identity or interlocking transference captures the vote and loyalty of citizens who haven’t been adequately educated on the actual structure of the laws and government, but who no less feel so angry and abandoned they are bursting at the seams.
Capturing this support, however, also fits the goals of the ideologues who plan the core strategy of the right-wing party, because one of their goals calls for the dismantling of the government. The recent mass firings of federal government employees do several things. First, in the eyes of many Americans who voted for Donald Trump, it feels as if they are finally getting even with somebody for all their pain and frustration. It’s the “we’ll show those bastards” gut feeling of satisfaction. Unfortunately, that’s the hand full of dust thrown in the air by the magician to hide what’s going on behind the scenes. Second, dismantling or disabling government agencies works primarily for the benefit of the super-rich and not the general public. However, this is the major goal of the party ideologues, because many large corporations and billionaires don’t want the government interfering in their profit-making process. They don’t want the government telling them they must have a safe workplace, that they can’t run a monopoly, that they can’t pollute the drinking water, or they can’t cheat the public. The Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its creation has returned over $17 billion to millions of American consumers through enforcement actions taken against large corporations and billionaires. Two examples are: 1) Wells Fargo Fake Accounts Scandal (2016 & 2022): Fined Wells Fargo over $3.7 billion for opening unauthorized accounts and other abusive banking practices. 2) Navient Settlement (2022): Helped secure a $1.85 billion settlement against Navient, a major student loan servicer, for misleading borrowers. While securing these wins for our citizens the CFPB’s budget has varied between $596 and $923 million per year. So, who loses if the CFPB is destroyed? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had been investigating several of Elon Musk’s companies, including Tesla, prior to the recent DOGE firings. Consumers submitted over 300 complaints about Tesla to the CFPB, with 66 of these complaints filed in the last year. So, is it in Musk’s interest to dismantle the CFPB? It’s certainly not in our (normal wage-earning citizens) interest!
So, not only will the cuts take away agencies that have really helped the people, but they will also serve the purpose of making the people of America feel that the government really doesn’t work. The personnel cuts and dissolutions of agencies will mean that many services we expect from the government just won’t be done. So, crippling the government, by cutting vital staff increases the time it takes to get tax refund checks back to us, the taxpayer. Not modernizing or properly funding the Post Office makes your mail arrive late. Cutting national park staff means the public toilets in the parks will be dirty and it will take you two hours in line to get into the park on a normal day. Car, food, and appliance recalls won’t happen on a timely basis and more deaths and injuries will take place. But…the Republicans have an answer! They will hire their friends to do the job as independent contractors at two to three times the hourly rate the government workers were paid. That’s what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq and is happening in our programs now. Just recently a contract being negotiated with Verizon for the modernization of FAA facilities has been switched to Starlink Services, LLC owned by Elon Musk. Is there a clearer message?
Without governmental agencies (really, we the people) intervening to protect ourselves and other Americans against bank fraud, natural gas coming out of your water faucet, having independent contractors filling the jobs of government employees, and requiring safe working conditions, the United States will be returned to the status which existed in the “Golden Era” where the government favored the super-rich because the super-rich controlled the government. That doesn’t work well because people become chattel or a personal possession of the rich. That control was exercised with an iron fist in the Ludlow Massacre in April of 1914. John D. Rockefeller Jr., who owned the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, assisted by the Colorado National Guard and a private security company hired by Rockefeller, attacked a tent colony of striking miners and their families. They killed 22 men, women, and children! No one was held responsible for the deaths!
If you think the example above is a stretch too far, then look at the value given to human beings as workers under the leadership of Elon Musk and Donald Trump. In our society today, you don’t have to murder people directly, you can destroy them economically which causes many to commit suicide because they are thrown into a life-and-death struggle to survive. Firing 100,000 human beings, many of whom have mortgages, car payments, children in school, medical conditions, dependent parents or relatives is in many cases beyond a death sentence; it is a living hell! So, how do we as Americans expect these human beings to survive in this “Golden Age?”
The direction is clear! Destroy the agencies protecting the average American. Tell the public you are getting rid of corruption and bureaucracy and install the wealthy autocrats with unbridled control over our lives. Make sure the citizenry believes the government doesn’t work by paralyzing it from the inside. Turn the government services over to private contractors who are big donors or friends of the party. In other words, “PRIVATIZE” the government. Then if the average American people can’t afford the service, they(we) just won’t get the service. That’s the goal of the current Republican ideologues. Wake up and don’t drink the Kool Aid!
