We post an assertion to be argued for or against, and ask all of our writers to come to the table for a good honest debate. Comments are now open to all readers.

ASSERTION:
Neither is it the government’s duty, nor is the government well-equipped, to make broad attempts to lift people out of poverty.

First let me say it was an enjoyable conversation and I respect his desire to keep his morning listeners engaged and entertained even though I do not agree with many of his positions.

This past week I had shared some thoughts via CNN on the attempts by Sen. Bunning and Sen. Kyl to depict we the unemployed as lazy and with no ambition to find work. I, like millions of Americans, found this an insulting assertion. Allman had me on to discuss my “slam” as he called it. (can we retire that word yet?)

Instead of discussing the real consequences of the economic crisis and instead of focusing on the realities that it has brought – Allman chose to focus on me and my year of unemployment.

Side note - last week I received the first call for work I’ve had all year. I have sent out many resumes and received no response. A friend refered me to a company he worked for and they called. We talked and I did not book the gig. Today I learned that my friend no longer works there and is himself unemployed.

Allman’s solutions for the unemployed seemed to entirely focus on part time jobs. He seems to be in denial about the severities of this crisis and seems to want to depict the victims of it as deviants. This is unacceptable and if the conservative community continues to be representated by voices like Allman’s I can assure you they will never be taken seriously again.

People are hurting. People are starving. And Allman doesn’t appear to care to offer up real solutions. He repeatedly brought up McDonald’s and Walmart as potential employers for the over 6 millions people currently unemployed. I am not certain if they are simply sponsors of his that he’s trying to cleverly place within an interview but I am fairly certain that they can not hire all of the unemployed and certainly not full time. And I am confused why conservatives seem to have communist ideals – they seem to think everyone has a right to a job no matter if there is a need for a job. Just because I want a job does not mean I just get one.

Now – I listened to much of the rest of his program this morning and found one bit of his opinion interesting and oddly confusing. He and his callers seemed to advocate neighbors helping neighbors rather than relying on the government. As if the government was some outside influence into people’s lives. (something I can somewhat understand given President Bush’s wiretapping habits) Allman also kept talking about how 40% of his income goes to the federal government and he thinks that if he was taxed less that he would have more money to help people. All interesting ideas – except for one thing.

Governement is just people helping people. That is actually it’s intent.

One of his callers asserted that the founding fathers were just people helping each other – good neighbors. And we need to return to that. I wonder if the caller understood that when Franklin, Washington, Jefferson and the rest decided to help each other – as good neighbors – they did something called forming the government!

It says in our founding documents “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” I think these words stand on their own but I think some folks should pay attention to “promote the general welfare”. I wonder what that means? I think it means helping each other have a strong quality of life. We are a united country, not a divided on.

We work together, for apart we are nothing but people bumping into each other trying to survive.

It is our governemnt. It is our way of helping each other and lifting our nieghbors up. It only works if we pay attention and take part. And it only works if we do not allow ourselves to be distracted by the voices floating out there in the airwaves on our morning commutes. We must be involved. We must get to know our representatives. We must know how to read the laws that are being debated and we must pay attention. We must in order for our country to function well.

Now I can understand why conservatives have such a negative view of government – I mean every time a conservative is in power our country begins spying on it’s citizens, launching us into dangerous wars and they always end their tenure with the country in a deep recession. I may be making a bit of a joke here but the facts do speak for themselves.

One reason I no longer vote republican (and I use to) is because I noticed this hypocrisy and it pushed me away from their party and my conversation with Allman today reaffirmed my concerns about their point of view. I’m not saying the democrats are perfect but they at least understand that government is meant to help, not hurt and intrude. For example I am always appalled that conservatives are okay with profiting off of the sick and the poor and whenever Democrats try to keep that from happening the republican party stands up and crosses their arms – protecting profit – no matter the morality.

I mean according to Allman all the unemployed should be denied unemployment insurance. I ask him this – what if the 6 plus million people currently unemployed just can not find work? Can not find permament work? What would that do to our country? What would the ripple effect be of 6 million people not paying their bills, not buying goods? How many more people would be out of work?

I think Allman forgets that for many of us this is life and death – it is not a joke. It is not a topic for a radio show to have fun with – it is serious. It is life and death. If we do not find work we die – especially if Allman has his way.

That is unless our neighbors help us stay alive – like Allman suggests. And given the sheer number of people that are unemployed and the ripple effect it would create – we would need to organize some body to help our neighbors. Probably elect some leaders to organize the effort. And very soon – neighbors helping neighbors turns into well….a government.

Which we already have.

Too often our elected officials use their official positions to spin, stretch and sometimes out right lie about any given issue that may be in debate in government. Recent examples of hyperbole overtaking logic and prudence would be the “spin” that the Health Care legislation included “Death Panels” or that the census was dangerous. Neither of these positions hold water or merit and those who made those assertions I’m certain are well aware of that as well. These were statements made by politicians for the sake of political theatre and ear catching sound bytes that might lead to a stronger base for their party and the appearance, however false, that they were fighting for the little guy, or grandma. The real victim in all this is the American people and the Bills themselves.

In the real everyday world if someone lied about someone else or someone’s product it could be considered slander and legal action could be taken. No such protection exists for Bills put into congress. This allows members to stretch the truth when talking about Bills in a manner that may lead to any one Bill’s defeat or passage and stands firmly in the way of real debate about the actual merits and consequences, positive or negative, of that bill. This causes confusion in the electorate and consequently good ideas get pushed aside because of the chaos created by such inappropriate behavior.

Far too often I hear folks talk about how corrupt their government is and how politicians “are just that way”. And far too often I see folks vote in the same people again and again and then act surprised when the economy collapses or when we find ourselves at war with an enemy in a country that never attacked us.

I in no way think taking an oath means they’ll suddenly be on better behavior up on the hill but perhaps some consequences for deception could limit those improper impulses. If they can not prove that what they said about a specific bill was true then they could be censured, fined or removed from office or worse, barred from ever serving again.

This is our country and they work for us – and they need to tell us the truth. It will, however, be up to us to be listening.

Here’s the link to the video that appeared in part on CNN today:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-412773

So I turned to movies to find comfort and was again subjected to adrenaline pumping paranoia with the likes of Red Dawn (the remake a friend is in by the way), Wall Street, The Rescue, Flight of the Navigator, even E.T. for pete’s sake!

All these films and books had something in common – government is bad, corporations are bad.

Which left me wondering who the hell do you trust? Family? Not with the divorce rate (a subject coming up here on the Avocado Jungle)– family was not what my generation naturally was trusting. So who do you trust?

The answer was sadly no one. That was the message then and even to this day in popular culture you see corporations and government continually vilified. In the Health Care debate you see Insurance Companies treated like they are comprised of evil sorcerers bent on world domination and then on the right side of the political non-spectrum you see folks acting as if our Government – the one with the beloved Constitution – was some fascist dictatorship bent on taking away your “freedom”.

Neither picture is true and sadly we are all suffering because of it.

Corporations, whether you like it or not, are comprised of people. That’s right. People. And no not like Solient Green, no one is getting eaten here – the people actually run these corporations, from custodial engineers to CEO’s – they are flesh and blood people who mostly pay taxes, buy goods and live next door to any one of us.

Government is ours. It is the voice of the people. Like the document says “Of, by and for the people”. Not sure why that’s never understood. Our government, as flawed as some of it’s elected officials often are, is ours – it is a tool to use to protect us and make our lives easier. To give a comparison – without government we would be a civilization of tribes – forced to barter and provide our own security on an individual basis. I don’t know about you but I can’t fire a gun and as a film maker/writer I’m not sure how I would trade my skills for a gallon of milk. So I like government. Now we could do a better job of electing competent people who care about the job and not the status. (can anyone explain to me how Bohnner was elected to my home district?)

So what’s the solution? Many of you will argue that corporations are bad and government is too big or too corrupt and many of you will argue all politicians are crooked. And many of you would be the ones culpable. You elected them, you work for them, you buy their goods – you give them power.

And you can take it away.

If you don’t lke big banks, move your money to smaller ones

If you don’t like your health care – drop your provider – and yes this means you’ll have to convince thousands if not millions of others to do the same – but no one said living was easy.

If you don’t like your crooked politicians – stop electing them! (hint: they’re not all corrupt it’s just easier to think that)

If you don’t like your government – run for it not away from it. Get involved in the process – it’s built to include you.

If you don’t like the labor practices of a company – don’t buy their goods or services!

In the modern age it is much easier to make a stand – you can do most of it from the comfort of your home computer – Facebook is a wonderful tool to organize large groups of people on a large scale.

I have no problem with corporations – I worked for a large one for a number of years and was treated very well even as an intern. I have no problem with government – it works when the people are paying attention and I believe strongly in what the founding father’s laid out in the constitution.

As filmmakers and story tellers we have a responsibility to focus on accountability rather than creating a convenient and faceless villain – one of the main reasons I started this site and continue to push forward as a filmmaker is to seek the truth – no matter what it looks like when you shine the light of day on it.

The truth is it is up to the individual to speak up when their boss wants to go in a immoral direction, the truth is it up to the individual to stop electing used car sales men and career politicians and undereducated fame mongers, the truth is it is up to the individual to know what laws are being passed and which ones should be stricken down.

The truth is – it’s up to you – the reader, the audience, the citizen.

The human mind is curious in that regardless of environmental variations, there are certain qualities ingrained within it, present in people of all backgrounds and upbringings. In the balance between nature and nurture, some things are still naturally begot, and a rebellion against authority is one of them. Tell a six-year-old to eat his vegetables and (with the rare exception) compliance won’t be the first response. We learn “no” before, if not immediately following, “yes,” and decorum and fear of authority are principles that we learn as we grow up in a tussle of trial and error with our own teachers, our parents and our older peers.

It’s not surprising, then, that the grown-up version of the disciplinarian, our government in the form of law enforcement and committees, is often vilified. It’s “The Man,” the cultural stick in the mud, the overbearing control that people must rise up against. Call it what you will, but the government as it is often viewed today has a foreboding quality to it, a “Big Brother” kind of blank-face authority that heartlessly implements rules in order to put a damper on free will.

This is, however, where definition is often misconstrued and perception misaligned. The original intention of government, as it was created in the United States, was to serve “of, for and by” the people. Democracy means that this abstract concept of a governing body is supposed to shift and reshape as its people see best fit. In turn, then, attacking and criticizing the government does nothing to directly change policies that might be displeasing at least, harmful at most, to the average citizen.

Instead, ours is a government that encourages active response — instead of wailing on about what’s wrong with the direction the country is taking, the United States encourages citizens to take that dissent and dissatisfaction and do something about it. In a nation where it is constantly insisted that “anything is possible,” opportunities are vast and choices many. It is therefore wrong to assume that “somebody else” — namely, the government — will solve a problem if we are not actively doing something to create a solution as well.

This is, of course, not to say that the government or big corporations — the backbone of our nation — are not at times inconsistent with that view, instead becoming a mechanism controlled by an elite few. When the big decisions about health care reform or spending on education are made, the hands that vote either yes or no are not literally our own. A few representatives in the Senate, a man or woman we’ve never met before, will make those decisions. If we’ve done our part in the government, however, we’ve raised our voices, picked up the tools and made enough of an impression on that representative for him or her to see how the average citizen would be impacted by their vote. Having that kind of say, having any kind of say, in the government really isn’t a right — it’s a privilege, and one that many people might dismiss or not use because they take it for granted.

And really, missed opportunities are no one’s fault except that of he who missed the opportunity.

The truth about the government is that it is what we make of it. In a perfect world, it really is serving the people, and hidden agendas wouldn’t exist (the term would instead refer to calendars being scribbled upon under the desk). The beauty of a country with so many backgrounds and interests and variety is that there is never a “right” answer, and that there is always an open forum for discussion. What determines if this beauty translates into this government, however, is how persistent we are in doing our share to continue the discussion. One-sided conversations are lectures. The government shouldn’t be a lecture.

Because rebellion, a fierce love of independence, is something that all brains are wired to chase, there often exists an urge to act against a force without thorough reason to. In looking at the government as a whole as the enemy, we do ourselves a disservice. Individuals run the government; disagreements lie with them, not the concept of a governing force. And until we can fully see the government as a group of individuals rather than a daunting entity, it will be hard to push for change.

Put simply: “Of, for and by the people” — none of the three points would matter without the other two.