It takes government — a lot of government — for advanced societies to flourish.
Today, advocates of anti-government free market, resolute in undermining the one entity that has been responsible for nearly a century of unprecedented economic and social progress, would have us think otherwise.
But belief in government was once conventional wisdom in America: Over the last century, government played an enormous role in fostering American progress while allowing the United States to become a beacon of material opportunity. The government controlled for negative externalities (e.g. pollution from production, unequal income distribution), provided key collective goods that markets wouldn’t have (e.g. universal education, Social Security), and regulated markets to protect consumers and investors, and ultimately enabled the U.S. to be both progressive and prosperous.
[For more of this story, written by Charyenne Polimedio, go to https://psmag.com/the-governme...463fff30a#.agu9twlo8]
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