Secular Americans more politically engaged than evangelicals

 

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Gratitude for governmental service

There are many things a person can learn from reading Who Is Government? Edited by Michael Lewis. The government is often described in disparaging terms such as the “bureaucracy”, the “deep state”, and the “swamp.” In an effort to privatize the commons the Republican Party has constantly advocated for less government since the time of Ronald Reagn who declared in his inaugural address in January 1981 that government was not a solution but a problem. And yet Americans are very dependent on governmental services at all levels from the Federal, to the State, to the county, to the local.

Who Is Government? goes beyond the typical headlines and political drama to showcase the crucial work performed by dedicated civil servants. It illustrates how government functions, often quietly and effectively, in areas like mine safety, cybersecurity, veteran affairs, and scientific research. By providing concrete examples of essential public services, it helps readers understand the vital role government plays in their daily lives, from protecting national security to ensuring public health and safety.

What are some of the important government services that have contributed most significantly to your quality of life that you are most grateful for? Will you say thank you to a public servant today to recognize and acknowledge their service? Just as it has become common for us to thank military veterans by saying “Thank you for your service”, shouldn’t we be saying that to all our public employees who strive to make our society more effective, efficient, and satisfying?

Better government service from merit based civil servants or political appointees?

What if there was a person who was running for president who said that on their first day they were going to fire 50,000 government employees? Is that a good idea?

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (p. 208). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

We actually had a spoil system in the 19th century. We had a president that was assassinated by a disgruntled job seeker, President Garfield. And that assassination led to the reform of our government and a movement away from the spoils system to a merit-based professional civil service. And unfortunately, well, for 130 some odd years, that model of our government that we seek out those with merit, experts that can actually do the business of government on behalf of the public in a better way, that’s now been challenged for the first time. And we have former president Trump—I will say the name—who has proposed, and frankly, tried in his first term to implement a process of changing that civil service, upending it and converting it into a political process. So we already have 4,000 political appointees in every administration. That’s many, many, many multiples more than any other democracy in the world. And this would create tens of thousands, if not more, political appointees rather than, again, the selection of people on the basis of their merit and their ability to best serve the public.”

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (p. 210). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Do we as Americans get better governmental services from a merit based civil service system or a spoil system made up of political appointees?

DACA recipients to lose ACA health coverage in August 2025.

The change is nationwide. As of mid-July, about 538,000 people in the DACA program across the U.S. are ineligible to enroll in any state-based insurance marketplace and are unable to access premium subsidies or cost-sharing assistance. (Public News Service 07/29/25)

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The consumer price index

The chapter about the CPI (Consumer Price Index) in Who Is Government? edited by Michael Lewis,  was interesting and helped me understand what we read and hear about all the time.

I had a general idea of what the CPI means but John Lanchester's explanation of it in the chapter, The Number, made it much more understandable,. As he points out the CPI is an imperfect indicator but gives us a rough idea of how the economy is functioning. Most Americans though have no idea about this concept and its use. 

The economy under Biden was doing great, one of the best in the world, but people focused, supposedly, on the "price of eggs" if you believe the pundits, and elected Trump who has trashed the economy with his tariff nonsense. We are in for some very dark days in the coming couple of years due to his and his administration's incompetence.

So the CPI is only as good as our understanding of it and the use we make of it.

Autocrats destroy government agencies to take their power and authority for themselves without their knowledge and expertise.

We never ask: Why am I spending another minute of my life reading about and yapping about Donald Trump when I know nothing about the 2 million or so federal employees and their possibly lifesaving work that the president is intent on eliminating?

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (p. 6). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

We have been told that DOGE’s gutting of federal agencies was about saving money, and learn today, July 4, 2025, that with the signing of the “one big beautiful bill” the US debt will rise by trillions of dollars and that Elon Musk opposed the bill saying that it would add to the debt whatever if anything his cuts while at DOGE saved and much more. So while services provided by the US Federal government will be crippled and the American people and people around the world will suffer, what was the point of DOGE firing all these federal workers?

It was the accumulation of power by the autocrats who wanted to undermine and sabotage the authority that comes from knowledge, skill, and competence of the federal workforce who work for the good of the American people and the world.

So what have we lost in firing people with knowledge, skill, competence, and the values of public service? That’s what Lewis and his colleagues wanted to learn.

What have you noticed already about the loss of governmental services since the federal workers have been terminated? How has your life and the lives of your loved ones and community been affected?
Science and public health will cease to exist as we know it.

It isn’t just providing healthcare that is impacted—the science that leads to these healthcare measures is being destroyed too. OBBBA is slashing funding for basic science research, even more than the cuts that have already taken place in the last 6 months. These institutions are already woefully underfunded, and these cuts will effectively destroy scientific research infrastructure in the US.

The National Institutes of Health is losing 40% of their budget.

The CDC is losing roughly 50% of their budget.

The National Science Foundation is losing $7 billion in funding.

That means over 1,600 research grants, primarily at public universities, will be gone. 75% of early-career science fellowships will be gone. Even more layoffs at public research labs. That’s years of work lost, overnight.

No support for vaccine infrastructure, food safety, epidemic and pandemic preparedness, maternal health. Preventive services research.

The magnitude of damage will be exponentially worse than the NIH indirect cost caps, which I wrote about earlier this year: (From Immunologic by Dr. Andrea Love, accessed on 07/04/25)

How to regain our democracy

How do we stop our slide from democracy to autocracy?

If you would like a return to democratic practices I am wondering what practices you would like to see created, restored, maintained?

Timothy Snyder in his book, On Tyranny mentions 20 practices people can engage in to maintain and further develop our democracy the first of which is "Do not obey in advance." Trump and his minions have vowed "retribution" during their 2024 campaign and we have seen major institutions from media companies to universities to businesses capitulate  hoping to placate the bully. Appeasement doesn't work as history has taught us. So people run scared and hide out, take a low profile, capitulate, obsequiously flatter, etc.

Passive resistance and non violent protests do work as Gandhi and King, Jr. demonstrated. Boycotts and strikes do work. Jesus allowed the Romans to crucify Him and he laughed in their faces saying, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." We're still talking about it 2,000 yrs. later. Who would have thunk it?

David Markham

https://www.markhamsslownews.com/

National Archives and Records Administration important bedrock of democracy.

Over the past nine decades, the National Archives and Records Administration has stretched its scope beyond its founding rationale of protecting its holdings to its current stated mission to “drive openness, cultivate public participation, and strengthen our nation’s democracy through equitable public access to high-value government records.”

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (pp. 155-156). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

In 1981 Ronald Reagan in his inaugural address said, “Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.” This statement laying the groundwork for the public attitude toward their government has led to an antipathy of what we hold in common, and an advocacy for privatization which has destroyed our democracy and led to the MAGA movement and the rise of autocracy in the U.S.


The destruction of public institutions and a distrust of the media has led to a concentration of power in the few who are free to sow disinformation and lack of respect for truth because they operate with “alternative facts.” One bastion left for accurate information hopefully is the National Archives and Records Administration weakened when Donald Trump made off with many of the presidential records to Mara Lago in 2021 precipitating a federal case by a special prosecutor which got dropped.

A democracy thrives on accurate information and an autocracy flourishes on disinformation and revised history. Most Americans know little and care little for the NARA, but truth and honesty is the basis of trust and assure a coherent society.

To what extent do you support the mission and vision of the NARA?

Privatization of the commons

In the past 10 years, this work has returned more than $12 billion to victims of crime and to the U.S. Treasury. If he worked anywhere else, Koopman would probably be celebrated. But he’s employed by the Internal Revenue Service, the arm of government that even its commissioner, Danny Werfel, describes as “iconically unpopular.”

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (p. 132). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Is there anyone besides me who likes paying his taxes? Taxes provide the resources for our governments to provide the services which we Americans need and want in common. This common well being is what holds our democracy together and promotes the quality of life for all. The opposite of this common pooling of resources for the common good is privatization which is the basis for capitalism which shifts society’s resources to the select wealthy few for personal benefit.

As a society what do we value more: the common good or personal aggrandizement? Most Americans admire and aspire to personal aggrandizement and therein lies the sickness of American society.