One of the things that has always intrigued me was that the Republicans, as well as many others, appear to be oblivious to the environmental and societal problems their ideology creates.

For instance, the Superfund specifically to force polluting corporations to pay for cleanup of toxic wastes. This is a good thing. No one could reasonably argue that toxic waste doesen't have to be cleaned up. No one can argue that poisoning the water, air, and soil we all depend on for basic living is a bad thing. Further, no one could reasonably argue that the people who cause the toxic waste shouldn't be the one's to clean it up.

So, why have Republicans gutted the Superfund? Aren't their children and their children's children going to suffer the consequences? Don't these CEO's and CFO's and boards of directors and stock holders, don't they have a stake in clean water, air and soil too? Why have they moved to weaken or outright kill environmental legislation and regulation?

This seemed contrary to the best interest of even the wealthy. So why would they be so unconcerned?

Recently I read Collapse, by Jared Diamond, and in this book on why societies collapse he pointed out that in a society in which the wealthy, or ruling class, must share the consequences of their actions, they tend to be much more proactive in solving problems. Therefore, the ruling elite recognize problems that could negatively impact their society and they figure out solutions. But, the obverse of this is when the ruling elite do NOT share the these consequences with the rest of the public. In this case, problems tend to be ignored until they reach crisis proportions, and by then it is too late, the entire society collapses. Further, the more disconnected the ruling elite are from the consequences of their actions, the more disasterous the collapse of this society.

Why is it that our national leadership seems to unconcerned about the truly great issues of our day? Overpopulation; Environmental Pollution; Disasterous Climate Change; Ongoing war and conflict; Rotting infrastructure; Collapsing national parks; Skyrocketing national debt; Mounting poverty and disenfrachisement of huge segments of our population; Rampant and blatant racism; Sexism; Increasing power and influence of extreme religious fanatics; Electronic voting that is not credible or accurate; Corrosion of checks and balances in governement; Corruption of politicians; Growing divide between rich and poor, with 2% of the population controlling 57% of all wealth in this country; Declining educational achievements of students and crippling cost of higher education; Outsourcing of well paying jobs to foreign lands with subsequent impoverishment of American Citizens; Millions of Americans without any form of health care; Millions of Americans without any form of retirement; Millions of Americans losing these benefits after they had been promised them by industry; Inflation and an every weakening dollar; and much more.

So what is going on in this country? The wealthy have their gated and select communities, bottled water, specialty stores at prices only they can afford, private police force (Blackwater, et al.), private vacations mansions in Montana and across the globe, even their money is no longer physically in this country, but in foreign, non-taxable, bank accounts. The ruling elite don't even pay their fair share of taxes, so it doesn't matter how the government spends it because they don't pay anyway. The ruling elite live, travel, vacation, eat, drink, shop in an entirely different world than the rest of the citizens in this land.

The reality is that the wealthy ruling elite of American do NOT share the consequences of their decesions, or lack of them, with the common U.S. citizen and are, in fact, well insulated from the 'real' world, so they have little to no interest in solving these crippling issues of our day.

Unfortunatly, these are issues that cannot be adequately solved by grass roots movements or coalitions. These are major issues that must be solved nationally because they impact all citizens.

This brings us to the purpose of government.

I don't believe government is responsible for all our problems or all our solutions. Most can be dealt with, and should be dealt with at a local level. But, the purpose of government is to level the playing field. It is to act as an agency that should keep predatory corporations in check with a system of rules and regulations everyone must follow. Government is there to protect and serve the enitire population, not just the wealthy and powerful. They do this by establishing programs for those who are not as capable, not as strong, not has able as the rest. The do this by establishing a system by which all citizens are healthy, provided basic needs, and are ruled by a judiciary that seeks justice for all. They do this by ensuring that all citizens get equality and opportunity. Each individual must make the most of their own lives, so government is there to give them the chance, not the guarantee, only the chance.

Government must be neutral at the very least.

I believe that government has a responsiblity for the wellbeing of all its citizens.

Unfortunately, our government is entirely run by the wealthy elite ruling class and is not representative or responsive to the average citizen. It is a tool of the wealthy.

And as I pointed out above, if the wealthy are not negatively effected by specific problems, they will not solve them. Since our government is owned by the wealthy, many of these issues will be left to fester, rotting the very hope of every day citizens for a better tomorrow.