Drowning in a Bathtub of Oil

For all the advocates of small government who want government to get so small it can be "drowned in a bathtub," this past six weeks of environmental destruction in the Gulf should serve as a wake up call that their ideology is dangerous when put into action. Government has a function in society and often that function requires action on the massive scale.

It is more than a little ironic to see Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana and Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi, criticize the federal governments response to the oil spill. Both governors, it should be recalled, have attempted to block stimulus funds and generally oppose any federal efforts.

The lack of government as regards regulations and regulatory oversight have directly contributed to the size, duration and occurrence of the spill. Putting oilmen in office in 2000, the nation developed an energy policy in secret with Dick Cheney as Chief Operating Officer of the transnational cabal.

Turning over government to private corporations and privatizing all of the functions thereof is not the way to run a society. It is the way to take all the wealth from the public commons and transfer it to private citizens while socializing the costs and risks.

Drowning government in a bathtub is a great slogan right up until there is a disaster that requires a definitive response. The corporatist response, that which we are seeing from BP, is only about cost containment and public relations.

The folly of the "death to government," crowd as exemplified by Grover Norquist and the Teabaggers, becomes apparent in moments such as this. Time to recognize that government has a role in society. Right now that role has been impeded by the actions of the previous administration and the inaction of the current administration. Time for the Obama Adminstration to step up and use government and quit worrying about the criticisms.