The Withering American Safety Net

The financial divide between rich and poor defines a duplicitous narrative in American history. Business is one of the necessary evils of our civilized society. The welfare of our societal brethren is the lifeblood of government. Unfortunately, business and public welfare are as much siblings as they are opposing forces that define the success or failure of nations. And it is this battle that defines the two party system of the United States, the battle that fortified the nation’s standing as the sole superpower following the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. But as our forefathers have defined a clear separation between church and state, today, we must redefine the separation between government and enterprise.

Government was designed to empower its citizens. This empowerment is the fundamental entitlement bestowed upon us. It grants us the freedom to engage in commercial, social or individualized activities. But the formation of commerce spawned a new breed of personhood. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had it right when he declared that “Corporations are People” before the crowds at the Iowa State Fair in August; but they are not the people defined by the self-evident truths in our nation’s Declaration of Independence. Corporations live and they die, they marry and produce offspring, and consequentially, on occasion, they eat their young. Their ecosystem is a microcosm of the theory coined by Herbert Spencer – Survival of the fittest. And it is this theory that illustrates and encompasses the singular principle of business; to maximize revenues. Given this principle, we cannot and should not fault the private sector for the cataclysmic economic cycles that have led this nation and others towards disaster. Business is not formed to protect or to serve, but rather, to feed the gluttonous appetite of success. Government and its leadership must fall on its sword for its failure to regulate and restrict business from running rampant over the integrity and the unalienable rights of its citizens. But what we have today is a government and private sector that have assembled to form a virtually impenetrable machine that caters to corporate welfare rather than to the ideals captured in the charter of American civilized society; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Entitlement programs are a symbol of prosperity. They were formed to combat the negative impacts of free enterprise upon the balance of equality. At the helm of government and corporate enterprise stand people twice removed from the impartial justice enacted by the laws of nature. Whereas, solely under the umbrella of government are men and women once removed, which is why entitlements are an essential component in the success of a nation and are what defines American culture. As well, they are what draw the ire and envy of foreign communities; they supplement the elements of American mystique which seduces immigrants towards our shores by the millions. But as we chip away at these programs, so does that aura, that American dream, disintegrate into oblivion. This isn’t and never was the concern of business, only that of government. This is also why government cannot afford to champion the efforts of corporations, because the welfare of its people emerges as the sacrificial lamb of this united front.

Government was never designed to empower the private sector. When a business shutters its doors, those employed by it must have an entity that grants them a reprieve from the missteps of the business and subsequent punishment brought down upon it. By contrasting scenario, when legislation is passed that benefits business, those governed experience loss by matter of degrees of civil liberties. Commerce, in and of itself, conforms to Darwin’s principles of natural selection. For laws to pass favoring commercial entities, government circumvents these principles, and in turn, assumes the corporate equivalent role of Mother Nature. Meanwhile, those governed become subservient to both government and the private sector and begin to lose ground in the battle of equality between man and corporation.

The United States faces a crisis of civil liberties. Corporations and Government have merged and formed a union that disenfranchises non business entities. People are suffering and legislators are taking an apathetic approach to combating poverty, unemployment and foreclosure. It has become paramount, for the good of the Nation and of our future, that the people of the United States take control of government to impose boundaries between it and the private sector. We can no longer allow corporations to dictate policy or influence the decisions of our political leaders. Business does not exist to serve the people and it will always favor revenue over patriotism.