[Letter to the editor]
You know why the Republican Party, and their billionaire backers, despise the very idea of 'government'?
For the same reason the bandits and bank robbers in the 'old west' despised the idea of a posse.
They knew that individual town folk had little to no chance of standing up to them alone, but if those individuals joined forces, as a cooperating unit, they could be in big trouble.
That's what the entire 'government is bad' shtick that the GOP has been pushing for the last 50 years is all about. To try to keep us from coming together to prevent their pillaging of our collective wealth and resources.
Government is not some amorphous entity that exists 'out there' somewhere, doing things to people. It is the people coming together as a unit to do things for themselves; to protect their common interests, and the vulnerable, from the predatory instincts of the sociopaths.
Bringing diverse people together to coordinate and pursue a common goal has its complications.
But it's the best defense we have against the bad guys.
