There's one thing Americans can agree on.
We value democracy.
And in a democracy, leaders are elected by the people
to represent the people's interests.
One person, one vote.
So why does everyone agree
that the government doesn't really work for us?
Conservatives have an easy answer:
"Big government is the problem."
They say the government infringes on people's freedoms and is constantly getting bigger.
They say that if we just defund expensive government programs
we could lower taxes for the average American.
With that money back in the hands of ordinary people, they say,
people could handle their problems on their own.
But there's a big problem with that:
It's just not true.
Sure, the U.S. government is big, but not as big as it used to be.
As a percentage of the economy,
Federal spending is smaller now than it was in 1954.
And the U.S. spends less on government than other countries,
like Germany or Finland that have lower rates of poverty,
and higher rates of economic mobility.
The American Dream is more alive in these "big government" countries than in America.
And there's no truth to the claim that the bigger the government
the less free the people.
In fact, the countries that the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank,
ranks as freer than the United States,
countries like Sweden or Denmark have much larger governments
relative to their populations than the United States.
A large government doesn't mean an unfree population.
You see, government isn't a problem in and of itself.
In a country as sprawling and diverse as America,
there needs to be an institution to build infrastructure, and inspect food, and to put out fires.
To do things that help our communities, even if they don't turn a profit.
Think of the U.S. Postal Service, which provides hundreds of thousands
of good jobs while allowing people to cheaply mail packages across the country.
Or think of Medicare and Medicaid, which are credited with having saved millions of lives.
So the problem isn't the size of government,
it's who controls the government.
The reason it feels like our politicians don't work for us is because,
well, they don't.
Republicans and Democrats alike are working for the people who line their wallets instead.
That's not just my politics,
that's the academic consensus.
In 2014, a Princeton University study found
that economic elites and organized groups representing
business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy.
More than that, they found that the desires of regular people have zero impact on policy adoption.
Not a little impact,
not barely any impact.
No relationship at all.
And it's a truth that's been understood since the founding of the United States.
Thomas Jefferson wrote of his desire to
"crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations."
But, blinded by swanky dinner parties and big donations,
some politicians have forgotten his words.
The top ranks of both parties today are filled with billionaires, banking executives, and wealthy lobbyists.
Corporations regularly give money to politicians on both sides of the aisle,
guaranteeing their influence no matter who wins an election.
Whoever wins, you lose.
With a government under the control of corporations and the rich,
the system has been rigged completely in their favor.
In the 1950s, when the economy was growing faster than ever,
the richest people in the country paid an income tax of 91%.
The corporate income tax was above 50%.
But after decades of tax cuts for the rich,
the 400 richest Americans pay a lower tax rate than the bottom 10%.
Corporations, elites, and the politicians they control will justify this
inequality by saying that different rules for them
mean more wealth for all.
But recent history shows that's not the case.
While American workers have become dramatically more productive,
their wages have stagnated or fallen.
The average hourly wage was higher in 1974 than it was in 2018.
This has led to a stark gap in qualities of life.
From 1989 to 2018
the wealthiest 1% of Americans
increased their total net worth
by 21 trillion dollars. [US$21,000,000,000,000.00]
The bottom 50%
meanwhile saw their net worth decrease
by $900 billion.
The rich got richer, the poor got poorer.
For too long, we have been presented with a false choice:
Big government versus small government.
We're right to be skeptical of the people who lead us.
They don't work for you, or for me.
But it's not because government is big.
It's because it's bought.
I'm Briahna Gray, contributing editor at Current Affairs magazine
for the Gravel Institute.
Thank you for watching this video.
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