Did America wrongfully denigrate “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”
President Ronald Reagan said in 1986: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”
The quote has an appeal. Many Americans loved him. He was in his second term.
I’ve been reading about slavery, abolitionism, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. One part seemed relevant: when the Union army liberated slaves from captivity. Were they not from the government, there to help? I don’t think the slaves considered those representatives of the government terrifying.
How about when schools were desegregated in the Civil Rights era. People from the government came to protect students in the minority, enabling them to practice their rights.
How about during Reconstruction, in the early part, when it was working, when people from the government helped create schools, distribute land to people who had worked it, and prevented lynching? Were such government acts terrifying? They helped restore equality, at least until people with control over resources overcame the people from the government there to help.
The state began thousands of years ago through codifying laws enforced by people with control over resources as tools to maintain that control. Even as we have created a more democratic state in the US than, say, under Hammurabi, those with enough control over resources can still exert control outside government. The Bill of Rights codifies some ways the government can restore liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and national security when people at the top of dominance hierarchies threaten them.
If my rights are being threatened by agents outside government, I see a role of government to protect those rights. To suggest any suggestion of help from government whatsoever is beyond problematic all the way to terror misses these key roles of government to maintain liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and national security.
Reflection like this post happen when we learn history. I believe I understand why Reagan said what he did, but learning history makes me cringe when I hear so one-sided a statement. He probably achieved the polarization he wanted, but probably at the cost of community and unity.
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