New Year

In my last post, in fact in many essays on this blog, I focus on my philosophy of governance. I never describe my comments as such - I never wave my hands around and say: here's my philosophy. But if you piece it all together, you should get the picture. Government should be an instrument for advancing the needs of the wider population, and, in particular, for constructing solutions for our most vulnerable.

What is wrong with the Bush administration is their complete contempt for the idea that government serves any public end. Depending on who you sat down with, you might find that Bushies believe government is primarily a waste of money, or a detestable instrument to overturn the justifiable accumulation of wealth controlled by the captains of industry, or, as Dick Chaney seems to believe, a set of institutions that can be repurposed to deliver benefits to friends and political allies. It's like a candy machine, and the trick is to move the machine into a secure room, and only allow your narrow circle of friends to have the access code. The thing that ties Bush to Blagojevich is that Blagojevich also scoffs at the idea that government serves the wider community. He sees it as his own personal ATM.

In a column in today's New York Times, Paul Krugman takes on the same topic. Here is the key passage:

Contempt for expertise, in turn, rested on contempt for government in general. “Government is not the solution to our problem,” declared Ronald Reagan. “Government is the problem.” So why worry about governing well?

This is a view I have held for years. This is why I steamed while the press was constructing hagiographies for Reagan when he passed away. Reagan justified our widespread distrust of government - which arguably is part of our political DNA - and set the stage for George Bush, and the abandonment of any expectation that government should be people-focused and competent and solution-oriented. The failure of the Bush administration to appoint qualified people - the idea that Michael Brown could run FEMA or Harriet Miers could be a Supreme Court justice - flows from this contempt for government. If you are looking for a reason for why we are so screwed right now, you should start your search with Reagan. Not just because he created a mind-set that has guided the Republican party ever since, but because he so effectively sold his idea to the American people.

Then cretins like Blagojevich come along and make the Republicans' work easier. Corruption and ineffectiveness by Democratic politicians like Blagojevich and William Jefferson and a generation of leaders in Ohio only serve to convince voters that Reagan was right - you can't trust government.

The stakes are high for the Obama administration. Not just because he is our first African American president. Not just because we find ourselves at the bottom of a deep, dark hole. But also because we need to rebuild trust in government. We need to remind Americans that government can solve problems, and assure our safety and security from narrow-visioned manufacturers who poison us and spoil our environment, and map out possible futures by providing start-up capital to new technologies, and help lift-up the poor and educate our children. The Obama administration needs to be bold and skillful and successful. And it needs to begin right away, and demonstrate results in the first 100 days.