In a recent column, I examined the current viral paranoia among some folk about "big government," which manifests in the more extreme cases as fear and loathing of government in general. I pointed out the basic irrationality of much of this anti-government mindset, noting that it is largely perpetrated by the right-wing-pandering of the corporate mass media, whose main, covert agenda is the wholesale deregulation of big business.

A further look at this phenomenon is in order.

Many of us have heard the term "false opposites." Creating false opposites is a specialty of propagandists, a tactic which, when adroitly applied, succeeds in diverting an audiences's attention away from the actual crux of an issue or event. This is precisely what the corporate puppets such as those at Fox News are doing when they incessantly tout the wealth-creating virtues of a "free" (code for unregulated) market against the non-productive wealth-squandering activities of ("big") government. Into the minds of uncritical, credulous listeners, the message "Business good, government bad" is continually, subconsciously drummed.

Anyone with the proverbial half-brain knows that government in its basic function is not categorically antagonistic to business, as the propagandists imply.

According to Webster, government is, "the organization, machinery, or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and performs functions"; business is "the arm of economic activity that usually includes trade, commerce, finance and industry."

Involving the two fundamental activities of modern human society, political and economic institutions are always closely interlocked and together determine the essential nature of the social order. Throughout the history of civilization there has been a broad spectrum of forms of this relationship, including those of absolute and constitutional monarchies, constitutional republics, totalitarian orders (e.g., Marxist and fascist dictatorships, et al.), with many hybrids and permutations over time thereof. Commonly, those individuals and groups who hold the most economic resources -- landowners through agriculture, manufacturers through production of goods, bankers through lending and control of currency -- wield the most influence over government, and in not a few instances largely control it. "Democracies," not withstanding their virtues over tyrannies, are not, in practice, exceptions to this rule.

Rocking away on their anti ("big")-government hobbyhorse, the big media propagandists in this country seldom acknowledge the success of some other nations in maintaining the relative prosperity of their working middle-class which provides the brain and manpower required for the success of free enterprise. Most notable of these are the social democracies of western Europe, particularly the "socialistic" systems of Scandinavia, with a thriving middle-class and virtually none of the hard-scrabble poverty found in the U.S., and endemically in the "developing" third-world nations where largely unregulated corporate capitalism reigns supreme.

Rather, the propaganists' ploy is to point to the failures of the "socialistic," hard-line, central-planning cases of Marxist communism, frequently citing the late Soviet Union as a prime example. In their ideological lexicon, socialism is a kissing cousin of communism, which upon examination is a blatant misrepresentation of reality.

Mark Twain observed that a lie can make its way around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on. In today's world of near-instantaneous communication, that is now a more actual than metaphorical fact. The lie can be broadcast to millions in the time it takes the truth to blink its eyes. And the falsehoods just discussed are being repeated every day.

The truth that the corporate media mouthpieces (of which those at Fox are the loudest and most ubiquitous in this country) are charged with concealing is that the big corporatists are increasingly owning our "democratic" government, not least through lobbying and campaign financing of candidates for public office who will carry their water once elected. Such an order is a functional "oligarchy," rule by the wealthy elite.

So the real issue is not government's size but its actual nature or quality. In that regard, let's look at the adage of an ancient Chinese sage who the anti-governmenters are prone to quoting: "That government that governs least is best." Like all such words of wisdom, this observation is not to be taken absolutely, only relatively, in consideration of existing conditions.

Not to pull rank on an ancient Chinese sage, a reframing of that perspective is perhaps useful: The best government is found n the best society (free, just and equitable) and is no larger or smaller than it needs to be.

Former Hays resident A. Wayne Senzee is a freelance writer residing in Salina and co-author of two books, "Toward A New Brain: Evolution and the Human Brain" and "More Ways To Use Your Head" (both with Stuart Litvak).