Pros and Cons of Trusting the Government

Government

Do we dare not to trust the government?

There are very good reasons not to trust the government. A great deal of evidence points to the idea that the current administration is essentially owned by big business, and that it is willing to sell out the interests of individuals for the sake of corporations. Just a brief look at recent stories show why one should not trust the government: the increase in gas prices and energy company profits while those companies shell out to the administration, the brutal death of Terri Schiavo under the orders of a judge, the September 11th terrorist attacks which may have been orchestrated for the colonial good of the American empire, the nation's willingness to abandon social security, and the lack of support for victims of rural crime. Of course, there are some reasons why one should trust the government: Welfare programs are available to some people and have been proved to help, and the marriage penalty tax has been largely lifted. One might also argue that it is a very good idea to trust the government, whether or not they deserve it, because if one doesn't it can be almost impossible to get funding for college (which is extremely important nowadays), and one may even face serious punishment or even torture for acting out of distrust.

The rise of gas prices is a pretty good indication of the failure of the corporate-owned government. "Collectively, the oil and gas industry has spent more than $270 million to lobby Congress and the White House and provide cash to federal election campaigns since the 2000 election cycle." (Public Citizen) Possibly because of this, the government has turned a blind eye to the fact that gas prices are soaring because of uncompetitive actions. "In November 2000, crude oil prices were at the same level they are today (more than $36 per barrel), but retail gas prices today ($1.78 per gallon) are 17% higher than they were then ($1.55 per gallon). Most of this difference has been realized in higher profits from the new mega-companies that have merged since 2000." (Public Citizen) Rather than act against mega-companies that have put hundreds of small refineries out of business, Bush has slashed decades of environmental regulations and given drastic tax cuts to the oil companies claiming this will fix the issue.

Terri Schiavo's death likewise shows that the government cannot be trusted. Michael Schiavo has no evidence other than his own testimony that Terri wanted to die, and her entire family wanted her to live. Moreover, Michael had already found a new mate and had children with her, and was only waiting for Terri to die so he might move on. She was a burden to him, nothing more, and he was able to convince the state to have her killed by starvation. A Harvard student, who suffers from cerebral palsy, writes that he fears for his own life: "This disrespect is the devaluation of lives of people like Terri Schiavo. In the Schiavo case and others like it, non-disabled decision makers assert that the disabled person should die ... we have arrived at the point where we starve people to death because he or she cannot communicate their experiences to us. What is this but sheer egotism" (Ford) The government's willingness to let people die is evidenced as well by the fact that evidence strongly suggests Bush knew about the September 11th attacks before they occured and allowed them in order to justify wars against Afghanistan and Iraq which were already on the drawing board. "Several cases from recent years have come to light in which FBI agents complained of being held back by superiors from investigating Islamic extremist groups. In each instance, it was alleged that high-ranking officials acted out of concern that these inquiries could lead back to America's closest Arab ally: Saudi Arabia." (Ackerman) This guilt is so obvious that even people in Europe are commenting on it: "The U.S. goal is...world hegemony, built around securing by force command over the oil supplies... this Pax Americana... provides a much better explanation of what actually happened before, during and after 9/11 than the global war on terrorism thesis" (MacAskill)