Ronald Reagan's handlers used a very simple expression of a very simple, if tragically wrong, idea. The idea has screwed up American politics for generations. In his First Inaugural Address, the late President said, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Do not be distracted by the fact that Ronald Reagan was wrong in the context in which he uttered those words, nor that every conservative since has been at least as wrong every time the formula has been repeated since 1981.
Focus instead on the fact that this very simple idea, however wrong, really worked. It was convincing and a whole lot of people bought into the idea uncritically. The key was its simplicity, the ease with which it could be understood and internalized by the listener.
The answer to Reagan's wrong idea is an equally simple idea. This idea has the added virtue of being right, both in the sense that it is correct and also that it is just. It can be expressed as simply as the wrong idea that it answers.
Unrestrained commerce is not the solution to our problem; unrestrained commerce is the problem
Just and common sense regulations upon dishonest, exploitative and disloyal commercial ventures and those directing them provide the only answer to the growing national problem of enterprises backed by those with boundless money running rough shod over actual human people with little or no money. Badly regulated enterprise curses American life at every turn, at work, at the store, at the doctor and at home. In most instances, unfettered commerce calls the shots for employees, customers, patients and families.
Unrestrained commerce is not the solution to our problem; unrestrained commerce is the problem
This simple expression provides the answer to the horrors of the military industrial complex, to management shenanigans preventing workers from profiting from their own productivity improvements, to producers and sellers of crappy food and goods and toys to distract us, to employers eager to continue exploiting immigrant workers whose lack of status means they can't fight back, to the myriad other aspects of American life where the least and the lesser of us so obviously fall victim to those who have the most and, mostly, do with it as they please.
See a problem? Unrestrained commerce is probably behind it.
Remember who the real enemy is.