From the Government

How Governments Have Made Us Healthier, Wealthier, and Better Educated and Made Our Lives Safer and Fairer

How Governments Have Made Us
Healthier, Wealthier, and Better Educated
and Made Our Lives Safer and Fairer

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In 1986, President Ronald Reagan told a joke. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language,” he said, “are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” It was a good joke, and Reagan, a veteran performer, told it well.

But Reagan’s joke raises a question for us today: What HAS come from the government that helps us be healthier, more productive, and better educated . . . or makes our lives safer and fairer? This website will look for specific things local and state governments and the federal government have done to help most of us.

Some of these will be obvious, like national defense, fire protection, and the courts. Some, like the 30-year mortgage and nuclear waste disposal, may surprise you. (Well, whom did you think would assume the task of guarding highly dangerous materials that could threaten us for a thousand years?)

The point isn’t to defend all that governments have ever done but to add a little perspective to the cynical belief that government always favors insiders and, when it doesn’t, is inept or incompetent. In fact, you may be surprised as you read these entries to find governments are at work everywhere in your life, doing precisely the things you want them to do and doing them surprisingly well.

On a regular basis, we’ll add examples of government programs that have helped most of our citizens. The entries will explain why government was asked to do this work, how the programs were created, and describe the results. We’ll have links so you can dig deeper for yourself. In each case, we’ll tell you which governments—local, state or federal—deserve the credit. (You may be surprised in some cases at how mixed the credit is, which means that federalism really does work.)

Not convinced? Great. Click a link and read on . . .

Medicare

Medicare is the second-most popular federal government program, behind only Social Security. Retirees love Medicare, and workers don’t mind paying taxes to support it. So how was this popular, effective, efficient health insurance program enacted? After a bitter, partisan political battle accompanied by warnings that government health care would bankrupt the country, ruin doctors, and bring about an end to freedom. If you enjoy Medicare coverage today—or hope to have it one day—you can thank government leaders for ignoring the hysteria and enacting Medicare 55 years ago.

Social Security

Social Security was a “simple and elegant” solution to the Great Depression, a system of direct relief for elderly people that felt like a pension and was financed by workers and their employers. It has gone on to become the federal government’s most popular program with young and old alike, and the most effective anti-poverty program in American history. If you are one of Social Security’s 68 million recipients—or hope to be as you get older—you can thank government for it.

Playgrounds and Recreation

Cities began building playgrounds in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a way of getting young children out of traffic and older ones away from delinquency. In time, the physical spaces were joined by recreation programs organized by nonprofit organizations. Today, it’s not only children who use America’s publicly owned playgrounds, athletic fields, parks, and streams. Tens of millions of adults do, too. And for our access to inexpensive recreation, we can thank government.

Public Hospitals

Cities created public hospitals in the early 1800s as places the poor went to die. In the late 1800s, their roles changed dramatically as the practice of medicine changed. Since then, other kinds of hospitals have emerged, but large public hospitals still play essential roles as caregivers for the poor, centers for advanced trauma care, and providers of public services like poison-control centers. Let’s hope you never need the care these hospitals provide. But if you do, you can thank government for making them available.

Public Schools

Public education was based on three tenets: that every child should be in school until adolescence, that schools should be free to attend, and that government should pay for them through taxes. And behind the tenets was the belief that our political and economic systems depended on citizens who could read and write. The results have been historic, as literacy has spread today to nearly every adult. For this monumental achievement, you can thank government.

The Courts

State and federal courts are the bulwark of our freedoms, and the belief in public trials before our peers presided over by impartial judges runs deep in our history. But the courts are also essential to business as enforcers of contracts and defenders of intellectual, financial, and physical property rights. We have never expected anyone but government to play these roles, and for our judicial system you can thank government.

Police and Public Safety

If you’ve ever needed a police officer in an emergency or could imagine needing one in the future, you can thank government for making her available, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Fire Safety and Prevention

Only governments can provide comprehensive solutions to common problems, solutions that combine trained and equipped personnel, public infrastructure, and regulation. Cities have done this with fire safety and, as a result, the risk of death or homelessness by fire has been reduced to a fraction of what it was in your great-grandparents’ days. For this, you can thank government.

Clean Drinking Water

The creation of dependable clean water systems is one of our greatest and least recognized urban accomplishments. Unrecognized, that is, unless something goes terribly wrong. But such incidents are exceedingly rare, and hundreds of millions of Americans can trust the safety of their drinking water. For this, we can thank government.

Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Waste Disposal

Since World War II the federal government has researched, regulated, and managed nuclear production and disposal. If you’ve benefited from nuclear power and nuclear medicine but never lived in fear of radiation poisoning, you can thank government for it.