Demanding big government

This morning on NPR they were discussing how one of the unforeseen negative consequences of Superstorm Sandy could be that a lot of toxic substances like cancer-causing dioxins and other nasty chemicals could have been washed into people's homes and gardens with the storm surge. There's been a scramble to test soil samples and floodwater for these chemicals, and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has decided to clean up at least one site.

One irate New Yorker said she hopes that the next time something like Sandy happens, the government will say what it knows straight away, implying that the government didn't want to reveal the extent of the problem out of fear of bad publicity. However, André, who works at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, noted that the government does not currently have any models to model the distribution of toxic chemicals in case of flooding; in fact, due to current budget cuts (quite apart from any sequestration), they have had to close down the department that was responsible for modeling air quality, i.e., if there is an explosion in a chemical plant, they have no way of knowing where the pollutants go.

André commented that it's interesting to hear people demand certain services from the government while people like him on the inside know that this is incompatible with the popular call for smaller government and fewer taxes. I am afraid a lot of harm will be done before people realize the consequences of this harmful political dogma, and that a well-functioning "big government" is not necessarily the interfering, style-cramping menace that many on the right paint it as, but actually offers protection from harm.

This comes at a price, however: higher taxes.

Perhaps the cut-price trade with China of the past decade has fooled people into thinking that it is possible for things to get cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. Government services cannot be outsourced to places where labor is cheap, however. (Besides the fact that rising wages in China mean that manufacturing is starting to seep off toward cheaper economies like Cambodia and Vietnam). I think politicians on the left have a responsibility to educate people on the true cost of the services that they expect from government. If people realize what they're getting in return for their money, perhaps they would be less reluctant to pay for it.