What have they done for you lately?

Publius says people need to understand how government benefits them personally. He then says,

After all, that's why progressives are progressives. We think the way we do because we think government can play (and has played) an extremely valuable role in people's lives. Otherwise, I wouldn't writing this, and you wouldn't be reading it.

Now, I don't know if this was his intention, but that statement immediately made me think, "literally. Literally you wouldn't be writing and people wouldn't be reading webpages without the government." (Al Gore jokes aside, check out this history and note the importance of DARPA in it.)

Which kind of gave me a giggle, thinking about all the right-wing blogs and the way that youtube and online information sources have helped the teabaggers get organized to protest imaginary socialism.

So, okay, there's the internet. Then there's the image to the left and the things it points out. Then there's stuff like most of my husband's career, which has been with the DoD in various capacities, and my graduate education, which was at a public university. There's the money I used to pay for my private undergraduate education, which came from government grants and government-backed student loans. There's my elementary education, which was likewise at public schools, and my kid's education, which is at public schools. There's my parents' jobs while I was growing up, both of which were in the public school system, and their credentials, which were earned at state colleges. There's my dad's retirement, which is paid for by the state.

There's the bus we took just the other day to go to the fair so as not to have to hassle with parking. There's the fair itself, actually. There's the beaches we like to go to (for now, anyway--Californians might want to join the state parks foundation, as I recently did). There are most of the pets I've had throughout my life, adopted from pounds. There's the small claims suit that will *finally* finish up, I hope, on Friday in a public courtroom, and the fact that there's a law that exists to give me some recourse to get my escrow money back when the people who didn't sell me a house refuse to sign the release forms. There's knowing that when I buy gas I'm actually getting the full measure I'm paying for, and being able to read (government-mandated!) labels on the food I buy to see what the ingredients are.

There's my doctor, who like me was educated at a public university, and the veterinarian that takes care of my pets, who was as well. There are our family vacations at state and national campgrounds. There's the unemployment benefits my husband was getting just as PK was being born and he was between jobs. There's not having worried when my bank (WaMu) was going under because I knew my money was insured by the FDIC. There's my husband's 401k and my son's 529 plan. There's the VA mortgage we used to buy our house. There are the (government-mandated!) seat belts in our car, and the car seat we used when PK was little. There's the fact that the air my son breathes in CA today is much cleaner than the air I was breathing in CA when I was his age.

I think you get the idea.