‘Special’ to the Point of Sameness

From time to time, stories about the price of gas in California top the news. The oil companies do their best to blame these prices on supply shortages and taxes, but consumers still complain. And when the oil companies say it will cost more to not add certain chemicals, who can blame consumers for feeling the way they do?

The same seems to be true about health management programs. Industry officials’ explanations often are met with, “Yeah, sure; you guys are only looking to keep profits high so your stocks stay attractive.”

In either case, there’s a good chance that consumers are right. But given stories about how large the state’s surplus has grown, do people think the state might be gouging them with exorbitant taxes? Tell them that the services their taxes fund are going to be pared back because their governing body has to take care of its employees first and people will just sigh and line up to tax themselves some more.

And although it’s hard to pinpoint why consumers check their penny-pinching ways at the door to taxpayer territory, I believe this neglect is the result of crafty manipulation run through, and often by, the media that people rely on for information.

People have actually come to believe that America’s business community is an evil, cutthroat disease bent on destroying the world for its own gain. Demonized by the press as “special interests,” the private enterprise sector has become a juggernaut that people feel helpless to stop. The result has been an exodus from America’s electoral process of eligible citizens who feel their votes don’t count anymore.

Here again, people are probably right. Special interests have taken control of government away from the masses, but it’s important to recognize that this takeover has not been one-sided.

Listen to government employee union representatives and you will hear statements like, “Workers have worked too hard to take a step back.” (By “work,” they were not referring to providing services; they meant getting all the benefits they currently enjoy.)

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Voter apathy born of disgust with business community ogres has made union endorsements the superhighway to success. With a loyal contingent of door knockers and a phone bank to lobby other union members and their friends, the unions have become too influential to ignore. This would be fine if not for some minor wrinkles.

Government is a necessary evil if citizens have any hope for some semblance of order and protection. At the same time, government can produce nothing; it can only spend money.

And although it does serve as a place for the less fortunate to turn in times of need, by focusing so heavily on worthy notions, government has allowed itself to become preoccupied with employees who feel they are owed something more: more job security than exists in the private sector; more benefits than working slobs could ever afford; guaranteed pay hikes, just because.

At the end of the day, special interests are all the same, no matter who or what they protect. And people who feel that their votes don’t count anymore actually contribute to the environment in which special interests thrive.

Next time you think your vote doesn’t count, think about why everybody else seems to be getting what they want after an election and you aren’t. Ask your friends and neighbors to think about the same thing.