CLARKSTON, Mich. — Most politicians, and nearly all Republicans at all levels, love to bash government.

But here’s a hidden, “deep state” secret they may never tell you. Many of us actually like government, whether we admit it or not. Need a policeman? Garage on fire? Want decent drainage?

When those things happen, we run to … government. When fires ravaged Los Angeles and hurricanes devastated Florida, few victims proclaimed they were libertarians.

They wanted, expected, and got government aid.

We’ve heard for years that government is too big, too wasteful, and that we are being taxed to death, charges that have launched the career of many a politician, notably former Michigan Gov. John Engler who won three terms starting in 1990.

You might easily think that the surest way to lose any election would be to demand more and bigger government. President Trump has announced a new Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE, to find ways to cut trillions out of the federal budget.

There are similar calls in Lansing and many other state capitals to cut taxes and shrink state and even local governments.

There’s no doubt that government, and government regulations, can be infuriating. Michigan’s Dave Bonior, once the House majority whip, was one of the most liberal Democrats in Congress before he retired in 2003.

But after he helped start two restaurants, he was soon complaining to the Wall Street Journal about regulations, saying “it took a ridiculous amount of time to get our permits.”

However, the startling truth is that millions of Americans love government, and in many cases want government to do more. Last year, the respected Pew Research Center did a nationwide survey and found that when people were asked whether they wanted a smaller government providing fewer services or a larger one providing more, they chose smaller — but only by a narrow, 51-46 percent margin.

An overwhelming 76 percent of those who planned on voting for then-President Joe Biden (and later, Kamala Harris) said they wanted government to be bigger and do more.

And in an apparent contradiction, a narrow plurality of all voters wanted government to do more to solve problems, not less.

What the Pew study didn’t show was how many people really understand government, or which government does what, issues 40-year-old Sean Kammer has wrestled with his entire professional life. As a student, Mr. Kammer began working for a small suburban city, found himself fascinated by governing, and never looked back.

Since then, he’s earned master’s degrees in politics and in public administration. Now a business development manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, known as MEDC, he’s previously had stints working for city government in Flint, Pontiac, and Lathrup Village, and worked for business districts in two more.

He knows what many people don’t realize, which is that government is, if not exactly civilization itself, the bones and muscle that allows civilization to flourish.

“When I was working for a downtown business district in upscale Birmingham, I sometimes tried to educate those complaining about taxes why they were necessary and what they were used for, but I didn’t often succeed,” he said.

Mr. Kammer added that some of them still think tax money is going to the stereotypical lazy bums living on welfare, “though there is very little welfare in Michigan anymore.”

Elementary school students are often taught that there are three branches of government in the United States, local, state, and federal, and many of us still think that way. But in reality, as Mr. Kammer noted, there are many more — “school districts, water authorities, special taxing districts,” he said.

There are, he said, something like 80,000 of these governmental and quasi-governmental bodies nationwide. Mr. Kammer’s own employer is one. The Michigan Constitution forbids the state from giving money directly to private organizations, so they established the MEDC as a state agency, and aid is passed through it.

Various studies have shown that most of us are under the jurisdiction of perhaps dozens of “governments” of one kind or another, which are intertwined to form what essentially is the fabric of society. Do they all cost money and require taxpayer support?

Absolutely. However, what few taxpayers realize is that Americans have one of the smallest tax burdens of any developed nation, according to the highly respected, nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute. An average of 27 percent of our income goes to all forms of taxes, compared, say, to more than 40 percent in Scandinavian countries or France. Nobody much likes paying taxes.

But as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said back in 1927, “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.”

He was, incidentally, seen as a conservative Republican.

Jack Lessenberry is a former national editor for The Blade.

Contact him at omblade@aol.com.

First Published January 23, 2025, 5:00 a.m.