It often sounds as if most of our fellow citizens’ conversations are an incessant complaint; disapproval of government contributing to our state of permanent unhappiness. Government falls flat, for what it has yet to do, in their opinion. To be clear, my opinion of my adopted country’s government is less critical than that of my American born friends. I listen to their long list of what’s wrong with the country, and the lawmakers we elect. Like my neighbors, my friends are a dyspeptic lot.

Not too long ago as we punched away at our common target, it occurred to me that we were really complaining about “ourselves.” Each of us is the government, I said. And we who are the government, should complain less while doing more to ameliorate its affairs. A discussion ensued of the role we play in the US and Colorado governments. But as is typical of many such discussions, we tend to view the government from our party’s vantage point, or the unique group we belong to. History’s long cord travels the long road of our lives; it often defines who we are.

What I am getting at is, after living under different regimes around the world, I am happy with how our elected legislators effect their decisions. Additionally, being an integral part of our government, we rightfully suggest and sometimes demand changes. The active act of requiring change, I think, does not call for incessant complaints against government.

My opinion is countered by others who see government as a tool to power, or a vessel they drive to an end. An example is Grover Norquist, whose most quotable nostrum is, “I want to shrink the government down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” His idea of democracy, it seems to me, is one of exclusion not inclusion of many citizens. He founded Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 and “has been responsible, more than anyone else for rewriting the dogmas of the Republican Party,” per CBS. His ATR supported Colorado’s TABOR, while simultaneously opposing health-care regulation. Ideally, he said, his best government resembled, “what it was, up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that.” Norquist’s star has waned as taxation concerns recede in the rearview mirror of Trump’s MAGA crowd’s caboose. No congressman signs ATR’s Taxpayer Protection Pledges that promise to oppose all efforts to increase taxes anymore.

I am not here criticizing Norquist or any of his followers. I am only interested in how individuals of good conscience, can with integrity, honesty, justice for everyone touched by such a government’s actions, fully participate in its life. In some way I suppose I belong to the group of socialists Norquist was railing against. I see our communal wisdom and strength as important in protecting the weak, the infirm among us, as well as the earth’s well-being.

I have always had a certain weakness for Socrates. Talking about democracy he said, only “a philosopher king” is fit to rule. Like me, many western nation-states eschewed his thinking, preferring what Abraham Lincoln called: “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” In essence then, it was this government my friends and I were discussing. A government we’re obligated to make right for all of us; one in which everyone sees members of the democracy as equals and deserving of respect.

Sometimes when looking for a better way to express myself, I find poets and musicians do it better in rhyme or song. Paul Simon’s “American Tune” does a good job in expressing some of my thoughts when he says: “he doesn’t know a soul who’s not battered, a friend who feels at ease, or a dream that’s not been shattered, or driven to its knees,” concluding, “oh, but it’s alright, for we lived so well, so long.” I tell my friends that we live in an exceptional country. Our current moment may have some difficulties but tomorrow is going to be alright.

Mine is an optimism born of living elsewhere, where blades appeared so readily, and men of power lived on gold and concrete thrones. I lived in Francisco Franco’s dictatorship where every word we uttered was measured, where you learned to obfuscate your inner thoughts.

We live in a democracy, a government I am an integral part of. Like all good citizens, my obligations are discharged, happily with a good heart.

Pius Kamau, M.D., a retired general surgeon, is president of the Aurora-based Africa America Higher Education Partnerships; co-founder of the Africa Enterprise Group and an activist for minority students’ STEM education. He is a National Public Radio commentator, a Huffington Post blogger, a past columnist for Denver dailies and is featured on the podcast, “Never Again.”