Could “Good Government” Actually be a hybrid of Capitalism and Socialism?

We will never see good government in this country as long as the corporate masters continue to direct their minions in government and media to divide its citizens. One way they divide people is through the false framing of race, this is the most obvious to the point where racism is often referred to as America’s original sin. But the other main false framing perpetrated by the elite super rich is capitalism versus communism, or its evil spawn, SOCIALISM.

The history of the idea of “good government” is necessary to understand how such an argument actually is misleading and invalid. The July 2009 Report What Is Good Governance, by the United Nations details the 8 characteristics of good governance, that basically boil down to the importance of the rule of law. The original form of government was the baddest meanest dude in the Stone Age cave clan society got to make the rules.

The Allegory of Good and Bad Government is a series of three fresco panels painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti between February 1338 and May 1339. This idea has been around for awhile. The idea of good governance was behind the Boston Tea Party and the Revolution. In other words, the concept of Good Government is as American as a concept can be. It has been here since the early immigrants from Europe came here to escape their starvation level existences. In the early days of the USA, corporations were tightly controlled because it was understoobd how concentrated wealth can endanger the freedom of the average citizen—and democracy itself. But now uncontrolled monopolistic corporations have seized American democracy by the throat and are slowly strangling it. One of their most potent weapons is to recategorize ANY government assistance to working people as SOCIALISM! OOH scaaary!! What used to be considered Humanist or altruistic behavior is called socialist and is classified as weakness. A weakness that will destroy your liberties!

Capitalism is all about every man (person) for themselves and dog eat dog zero sum relationships with other people. This extreme outlook that you have to be tough, you have to be unscrupulous, you have to be dishonest, unethical and borderline illegal to prevail in the USA has made us into a nation of alienated and desperate people. On top of which one has to deal with inadequate wages, health crises, imminent climate change and the outright normalization of lying as Standard Operating Procedure. No wonder we’re to the point where a third to half of the country has lost a firm grasp on the truth or basic facts.

So now we have one party that’s beholden to profits over people yet weakly attempts to pretend their loyalty to working people, the Democrats. They never seem to be able to work up the gumption and backbone to take on the really evil people who truly have bad and selfish intentions. When in the majority they freely allow their power to effect change to dissipate through their naive desire to work in collaboration with unscrupulous scumbags who care only about wealth and power.

Meanwhile The Republicans have somehow managed to cast themselves as the champions of truth and liberty and Democrats as a pack of lying thieves. As usual, they are projecting their nature onto the opposition. Republicans don’t believe in fighting fairly for a set of principles. They have no qualms about cheating and lying about elections or anything else, including their oath to the Constitution. They will demonize any attempt to ease the burdens of working people as GODLESS SOCIALISM, in a country founded on the principle that there is no state religion.

The increasingly extreme capitalism of the last 40 years has turned this population into a collection of desperate, distrustful, greedy, self-centered, short-sighted, directionless, ignorant people, Bad for making well-informed decisions but good for mindless consumerism. The type of people who are easily manipulated. And that’s just what the super wealthy power hungry inhuman monsters who worship profits over people require in their continuing strategy to create a New World Order where they have all the power. That’s what unregulated capitalism will bring about, not anything approaching a Utopian society.

So the question is what is good governance? I have no desire to see a communist system, I put a lot of effort into my work and expect to be compensated. But when the rules don’t apply to the filthy rich and work is no longer fairly compensated, the failure points of pure capitalism are exposed. Self interest is a great motivator but uncontrolled greed is dangerous to everyone. The truth is that the weak character of some people is revealed by acquiring vast wealth and the total power that it confers. This kind of total power really amounts to an immunity to the rules of decent behavior. A well-adjusted ethical person may not need artificial constraints to their behavior. But a greedy narcissist is a different situation. Some people need a measure of control and the sad truth is those highly motivated by ambition are the most likely to have that character defect.

So the case can be made that empathy and altruism have their place in good government. The profits over people caucus will always scream SOCIALISM every time the government adopts any policy that’s good for the average Joe. The reason for that is, their goal is to go back to that original form of “government”, in which the baddest most murderous dude gets to make all the rules.