We live in a capitalist country, though it need not be that way; it simply is the way that the United States is structured presently. That is to say, this nation was not founded under the capitalist flag, but rather was founded with the general principle that all are equally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that this government’s purpose is to promote the general welfare of the people. This thus signifies that government needs first and foremost to be the honest broker between the people and big business, and to the degree that it is not, it has disowned what it has been created to do, for this is government, of, for, and by the people.
Regrettably, we find that today’s government literally has far too often represented the wolves guarding the henhouse, because those in the highest echelons of governance regulation, are in many a case, those that have been part and parcel of the industries that they are now regulating, or if not currently the case, have an unwritten agreement that should they see things the way that businesses desire them to be seen, that they will be well compensated once they leave their governmental office. In other words, the government has habitually joined hands with big business, allowing those businesses to profit at the expense of the people as a whole. This isn’t fair, and it isn’t the way that things should be, but it is the way that things are currently situated.
While an argument could be made that government should not be antagonistic to big business, this needs to be tempered by the fact that the government, unless in the most extreme exigencies should not be working hand in glove with big business, when by doing so, they are essentially providing personal service to big business, at the expense of the people, not seeming to comprehend that today’s biggest corporations are so large and powerful that if the government does not step in to properly regulate and monitor such, that big business will, in essence, be well positioned to run roughshod over the people.
The best governance is not that which governs least, but that government that comprehends that its highest duty is to its citizenship, who should have a democratic voice that its representatives listen to, and that the purpose of that government is to see that the people have a fair opportunity to reap what they have sowed, through their diligent labor, and therefore are compensated at a level which is commensurate with the success and wealth of this nation, as opposed to that government, intervening not on behalf of the people, but rather on behalf of big business, because those that make the decisions at the highest level of governance have decided that their personal benefits, and the positions of power that they are in, are answerable not to the people, but rather to big business, thereby vacating their responsibility to the people, through their lack of integrity and good purpose.