Reconstructing the Common Good

The Trump administration’s deconstruction of the federal government has made two things increasingly clear. First, the federal government really does provide services essential to the life of a prosperous and reasonably safe nation. Second, it has done a lousy job of explaining that to the public in ways that can be understood and appreciated by nearly everyone.

It’s a reminder that the old trope isn’t entirely wrong: the bureaucracy often functions like an inwardly focused paperwork factory. On the other hand, as the  blundering DOGE debacle proved, there is very little waste fraud or abuse as so many believed.

Thirty years of belittling the federal government created an opportunity for some segments of the body politic to scream “socialism” or “communism” whenever they felt aggrieved by Government actions imagined to trespass on their freedom.  It also fostered a mindset among the rest of us in which the federal government became “them”—something alien to “us.” As a result, the government has been demonized as the enemy of the people, or, just as damaging, has been ignored in a wave of complacent abdication from civic engagement. Either way, we’ve abandoned the hard work of deciding how we want to live together as a country and what we owe to each other in contributing to the general welfare.

Indeed, it’s become nearly impossible to imagine what the “general welfare” even means. Ask a few neighbors to describe the common good, and you’ll likely be met with blank stares. We’ve been indoctrinated with the notion that the only thing that matters is what benefits the individual—or the individual’s immediate circle.  A common good that includes all those “other” people has been made to seem like a threat to one’s personal rights and privileges.  Developing a National ethos of a common good will require a re-definition of the federal government as an agent serving our collective needs and not as an alien they” demanding submission.

At some point—hopefully before the current administration ends—we will need to begin the difficult process of rebuilding a federal government capable of meeting the needs of a 21st century nation and its people. We will also need to restore the credibility and reputation of the United States as a global leader and model of what representative democracy can accomplish for the greater good.

To do that, we need credible public voices—people who can effectively communicate how essential our shared common good is to individual well-being. I don’t think the voices come from the countless podcasts and niche news sources preaching to tiny, self-selected audiences. The voices we need must be nationally recognized—figures whose words are echoed and amplified by others. And I don’t believe those voices can come from candidates for public office, though many will try.

Whoever these voices turn out to be, they must make it unmistakably clear: we are not, and have never been, on a path to socialist communism. That tired nonsense must be laid to rest.

What we do need is to reconstruct an activist federal government—one that raises from us the resources needed to provide for all, given the conditions and challenges of our time. At its core, our common good depends on doing everything possible to ensure that no one is deprived of full and equitable opportunity. That will mean public financing of services that must be delivered at the national level, without discrimination.

Yes, that sounds like DEI. And it is—but in the right way: not as a fad or slogan of the month, but as a lived reality in a nation committed to the inalienable rights of all people to freedom and the pursuit of a full life.

There are public needs that can only be met nationally. There are local emergencies—natural or otherwise—that demand the coordinated resources of us all. And there are ways of being American that cannot be confined to state borders or regions. They must be equally available to everyone. Meeting that demand will require rebuilding a federal administrative structure that is leaner, far more efficient, and genuinely dedicated to high levels of customer satisfaction—the customer being the ordinary, tax-paying citizen.

What to do about Congress is another problem. I don’t support term limits, but mandatory retirement ages seem appropriate. We need a new voting rights act, one strong enough to prevent states from systematically excluding certain citizens from the ballot box. Equally important, we must impose workable limits on gerrymandering.

How likely is any of this? Not very. But we must continue to try!