The State: Hand or Fist?
There are two very different visions of the connection between us and our government that are playing out on our streets this summer.
The first is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Government exists to make sure that the rights each of us has to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are protected.
Government exists for us. It is our enabler. It makes is possible for us to live our lives and achieve our individual goals by supporting a working economy, personal safety, public education, access to health care, and the freedom to follow our dreams and to express ourselves freely – all essential to life, liberty and happiness.
The Declaration of Independence goes on to say that when government does not fulfill its obligations, it is time to change the government. We are in charge. Government exists to serve us.
That vision is based on the belief we are in this together, we are created equal, and together we can create a government that provides the resources that allow ourselves and our communities to thrive.
In the second vision the State exists to enforce, not to enable. Its primary role is to maintain Law and Order. It’s a darker vision. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are no longer primary. In the words of Richard Nixon, “The first of all rights is to be free from domestic violence.”
This vision requires a divide between “us” and “them”. The law and order state has to have a “them” from whom the rest of us are protected. “They” have to be controlled. The enemies of the state.
There is a connection between the two visions. When those in charge, through incompetence, corruption, or a desire for absolute power, fail consistently to provide the necessities for life, liberty and happiness, the people head for the streets and begin to march. It is then, when their failure to govern competently evokes public protest, that rulers embrace Law and Order. There are no protests when government does its job.
During this past year there have been large protests in Hong Kong, Libya, Lebanon, France, Bolivia, India, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Russia, Chile and Iraq, among other countries. The causes have all been some combination of a failed economy, self-enrichment by the rulers, abuse of power, and the loss of freedom to speak freely and act politically. Causes that make life, liberty and happiness impossible. The protests have been met with force.
In our own country, our President’s response to the protests against ongoing killings of Blacks and minorities by law enforcement, has been, “I am your president of law and order.”
The protesters are the problem, the “them”. The President describes them as “professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, and others. These are acts of domestic terror.” His Secretary of Defense, invoking the image of war, tells state governors, “We need to dominate the battle space.” There is no recognition that people are in the streets and fires are burning because lives, liberty and happiness are absent or threatened.
Demonizing the protesters, creates a fear of “them”, driving people into the arms of the Protector. The Law and Order state claims to act for “us”, but if history is guide, eventually the state comes for us too.
We have a choice. We can choose which vision we want to make real.
We can stay divided, not worry about the lives, liberty and happiness of others, and let the state impose Law and Order when “they” take to the streets.
Or we can refuse to be divided and find a way to join together and put in the effort necessary to create a state that enables each one of us to pursue life, liberty and happiness to the fullest. We can recognize we have different beliefs and different aspirations, but we also live in community accomodating the beliefs and aspirations of others.
One vision takes work on our part. The other will happen if we do nothing.
Douglas Kane is the author of "Our Politics: Reflections on Political Life" published in 2019 by Southern Illinois University Press
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