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 I’m From the Government and I’m Here to HelpPosted on May 15, 2008WASHINGTON—The Reagan era in American politics is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise. In this respect, it doesn’t matter who wins the Democratic nomination or even who wins the general election in the fall. I was going to try to write this column without using the word paradigm, but already I’ve failed: Regardless of who takes the oath of office in January, the paradigm that reigned for nearly three decades—the notion that government is useless, if not inherently evil—is no longer operative. All three of the remaining presidential candidates propose a far more activist role for government. Even John McCain, who tells conservatives he’s a Reagan disciple, proposes far-reaching government action on issues such as climate change, high energy prices and the mortgage crisis—problems that are supposedly better left to the cruel genius of free markets, according to the old paradigm that Bush has pushed to absurd extremes. It took a leader of the Decider’s uncommon gifts to kill the philosophy he worships. To be fair, there is one area in which he has been the most proactive of presidents, to our nation’s lasting discredit: violating the basic rights of citizens and noncitizens alike in the name of his “war on terrorism.” Otherwise, he has interpreted Reagan’s small-government mandate as an excuse—or an instruction—to abdicate government’s most fundamental responsibilities. Anyone who wants to argue this point need simply remember the “heck of a job” our government did in handling the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Advertisement Even more telling, though, are the polls showing that soaring numbers of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction—more than eight out of 10, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll—and that Bush’s popularity has fallen to historic lows. The grinding occupation of Iraq is only partly responsible for the nation’s discontent. Decades of government inattention have allowed chronic problems to grow and fester and putrefy and ... well, we’ll abandon that metaphor lest it turn into something that no one wants to read over breakfast, but you get the idea. It turns out that Americans don’t want their leaders to simply shrug, as George Bush shrugs, at the fact that 47 million citizens do not have health insurance. It turns out that Americans don’t want their leaders to simply tsk-tsk, as George Bush tsk-tsks, at the wrenching economic dislocations that stem from globalization. It turns out that if government declines to adequately regulate or even monitor the financial system, unfettered markets can make catastrophic blunders. When Joseph Schumpeter wrote admiringly of how capitalism was buffeted by the “perennial gale of creative destruction,” I doubt he was talking about exotic mortgage-backed securities so complicated that nobody really understood how much risk was being undertaken, or by whom. I also doubt that families facing foreclosure are much comforted by being told that they’re playing an essential role—that of loser—in classical free-market theory. Evidence suggests that Americans are tired of a government that is slavishly beholden to a rigid do-nothing ideology—and that they’re ready to punish the president’s party for its ineptitude and lassitude. Republicans have gone 0 for 3 in special elections this year for House seats, most recently losing a Mississippi district that gave Bush a 62 percent landslide margin in 2004. What a difference four years can make. Throughout the year, the Democratic primaries have drawn far more voters than the Republican contests. Democratic coffers are brimming and the party is bringing in millions of new voters. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are glamorous and exciting candidates, but this Democratic surge isn’t all about them. It’s also about the Republican Party’s utter exhaustion. Since Ronald Reagan’s first term, Republicans have set the nation’s ideological agenda. This was true even during the Clinton years. But it’s not true now. Party leaders speak of the need to refurbish the “Republican brand.” The problem goes far beyond packaging, though. It’s not that the box needs to be more colorful, it’s that the ideas inside have long since gone stale. Eugene Robinson’s e-mail address is eugenerobinson(at)washpost.com. © 2008, Washington Post Writers Group Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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Obama’s Job Approval Slips Below 50%
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By hippy pam, May 19, 2008 at 9:50 am #
Will this happen[jail cells for all “the Bullsh*t bunch”]if enough citizens STAND UP AND INSIST on
Report thisJUSTICE?...COULD THIS HAPPEN?...WHERE THE FU*K IS EVERY ONE?...oh yeah-watching T.V and bitching about the price of TEA…....
By Thomas Billis, May 18, 2008 at 4:14 am #
Giving greed and racism philosophical cover will be Ronnie “jellybeans” Reagan legacy.From giving a speech in Philadelphia Miss to his dying day “the Gipper"gave all the cover the greedy and racially insensitive would ever need.Coming to the end of this era of intolerance and greed could not be viewed as anything but a good idea.After this years election the Republican party will be paraphrasing one of Reagan’s most famous lines"where is the rest of me”.I think from"All The King’s Men”.
Report thisBy felicity, May 17, 2008 at 1:38 pm #
And speaking of drugs, I understand that if a drug ends up killing someone and if the drug was approved by the FDA (?) the drug company that made the drug can’t be sued. I also understand that the FDA is primarily made up of people tied by the umbilical to Big Pharma.
This must be neoconservatism writ larger than life.
Report thisBy jackpine savage, May 17, 2008 at 9:46 am #
I hear ya…
From what i hear around me, real conservatives are getting mighty pissed off at the Republican Party for just the reason you outlined.
I fully understand the loathing of “tax and spend” Democrats; in fact, i share it. (mostly because neither are done wisely or prudently) But it has come to a point where we must choose between “tax and spend” or “borrow and spend”. Given that choice, i have to go with the former…if only because the latter implicitly includes the former somewhere down the road, plus interest.
Report thisBy jackpine savage, May 17, 2008 at 9:39 am #
And to a certain extent in the drug trade…though the gov even puts huge market pressures on that with prohibition driving commodity prices up.
Report thisBy Vince Liberty, May 16, 2008 at 11:40 pm #
We are not living under some kind of ‘cruel genius’ of free markets - we live under a corporatist system of corporate-state collusion that far surpasses the fascism of Mussolini! And George Bush, far from implementing the rhetoric of Reagan on government, has inflated and engorged the government by every possible measure - spending, taxing, entitlements, military aggression, theft of civil liberties, all in the name of national security, and all funded by stealthy theft - the Federal Reserve’s criminal printing of money.
We have a budget defecit of over $270 billion, we have a debt of over $10 TRILLION, and unfunded liabilities of $60 - $70 TRILLION. This is what you call an exemplar of minimal government, free-market conservativism? The free market died in this country in the 1930s, when Roosevelt drove the New Deal, like a gigantic rusty stake, through its heart. The free market exists now solely in the realm of small business, period. Oh, and in, of all places, China.
Report thisBy deang, May 16, 2008 at 6:48 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Clinton promised to invest more in infrastructure and education, too, after 12 years of disastrous Reaganism, and then as president he just continued Reagan’s policies, even augmenting and exacerbating some of them. It’s not clear that a Democratic president this time will do any different, regardless of how unpopular Bush II is at present. There is a lot of undoing to do, for one thing. We still hadn’t recovered from Reagan’s malevolent restructuring of government when Bush II came along to resurrect it.
And it’s misleading to say that Reaganites and people raised in this ongoing Reagan era believe in a “do-nothing” government, or that the government has been acting as a “do-nothing” government. Contrary to Reagan’s pronouncements, and plain for all to see, Reagan and his successors did not reduce “big government”; they just transferred money from beneficial government divisions like social services and education into destructive government divisions like the military, prisons, and police, in the process damaging all social services to the point that Reagan could point to them and say, “See, government doesn’t work.”
And y’all, Reagan was not as popular as we are now told he was. His “landslides” were slight indeed.
Report thisBy DennisD, May 16, 2008 at 5:33 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
“the notion that government is useless, if not inherently evilis no longer operative.”
Eugene, I assume you’re writing about the U.S. government. If so, you must be joking. Do you really believe that changing the face on the Wheaties box makes a difference as to what’s inside.
Report thisBy Conservative Yankee, May 16, 2008 at 11:01 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
My Senators are OK, (barely) but my representative STINKS!!
Also any “system” which demands “free people” pay levies to support reprehensible projects deserves disrespect from the top down.
One of the reasons Bush is so universally disliked is he is not a “fiscal conservative.”
To make someone like me even CONSIDER voting for a Democrat takes a heap of malfeasance… this administration is at that level.
Report thisBy Purple Girl, May 16, 2008 at 9:42 am #
Finally the pedulum has hit it’s maximum reach and has begun to swing back. Not just in Politcs- but in the misguided Theocracies. Rev Wright had no effect on most (thinking ) voters becasue we not onlyhave seen this ‘film ’ before, but we Remember History inspite of the ‘Misitry of Truth’s attempts to re write it. More have been so over satiated with false premises and their non existent rewards- we have become like Pitbulls who have been teased far too many times, on we have broke off our chain!
Report thisNot only are we running down the Neo Con Right, we have set our sites on the Enablers ( accomplices ) in Blue. Heres a Politcal Question- Why can’t a DLC win the White House? Answer because the Base can smell a RAT!We may have not understood why we had to Hold our nose to vote for Gore or Kerry and why so many chose to ‘skip it’, but they have Tipped their hand- and we are now biting it off.The complicity has been revealed. Hillary has not been able to ‘win’ this nomintion- becasue we smelled that ‘bitch’ a mile away, we detected her ‘heat’ when she voted for the Iraq invasion, we new she was strutting her stuff with ever vote and action and INaction since- to lure the ‘Reagan Democrats’- who are infiltrators of the REAL demcoratic party. that term is a fallacy, an oxymoron -Dems HATED Reagan.
Then she reached in too close with her poisoned ‘Cookie’ of “totally Obliterating Iran’ and we’ve bitten her hand off and are heading towards her Juggler. We smell the Hagee/Parsley stench all over her. Recognition of this dangerous move and her rsulting fear has become apparent. We are going in for the Political Finale Bit.
I strongly suggest my long lost admirable foes who still remain in the Republican party break off their Chain too. Corp sponsored Religious extremeist have been Yankin’ your chain for Decades too!
If we work together to exocise them from our Political arena ( and prosecute them fro their Crimes)
‘I Confido’ we will regain our country!
By JEP, May 16, 2008 at 8:35 am #
ConYank;
you fail to mention that those numbers reverse when people are asked about THEIR OWN senators and congresspeople, that generic disapporval is typically directed towards congresspeople from someone ELSE’s district, lumped together as a whole group.
It is just a misleading perspective, one that taps our regional prejudices and gives fodder to Bush apologists, as if he’s somehow OK because Congress isn’t..
Report thisBy JEP, May 16, 2008 at 8:30 am #
If McCain gets the nod, you may need to add some more words to your title…
“Im From the Government and Im Here to Help.. do you have your papers?”
Bush may have soured us all on bubba-selective, no-bid lassie-fair economics, but his term has also enabled BIG government projects like Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness monster, under more than one sockpuppet acronym.
I am in complete agreement that we need more government “watchdogism”, and more government social services to alleviate suffering and eliminate poverty in our great nation.
But as the best qualities of our more-involved government mature, we need to make certain these darker parts are subdued, diminished, and someday, completely eliminated from our government’s list of inherent duties.
Bigger government should work for “We, the People,” not “Them the billionaires.”
Report thisBy Conservative Yankee, May 16, 2008 at 8:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
What Robinson fails to mention, is that even though GWB’s ratings are at historic lows for the presidency, The Democraticly controlled congress is always 5 points lower.
People no longer trust politicians of any stripe.
AND
If any government agency came to my house and said; “Im From the Government and Im Here to Help” I’d slam the door in their face!
Report thisBy jackpine savage, May 16, 2008 at 7:41 am #
But, Mr. Robinson, will anything really change? After all, our current, small-government leader has enlarged the federal government more than just about any of his predecessors…yet this is never questioned.
That our “free” markets are obviously not free at all is never questioned by the Public or the politicians. Free markets might self-correct, but who knows since we’ve never actually seen them in action on a macro scale.
The ideological agenda may be changing, but we’ve dug ourselves a pretty deep hole. Restructuring the agenda is going to take monies that we don’t have. But hey, it’s a nice thought…maybe it really is morning in America again.
Report thisBy jackpine savage, May 16, 2008 at 7:33 am #
Doesn’t it though…
Report thisBy Expat, May 16, 2008 at 5:28 am #
Thomas Billis, you should read the Chalmers Johnson book review. I will only begin to have hope when I see Bush and his cabal entering their prison cells. Until then it’s all smoke and mirrors!
Report thisBy Expat, May 16, 2008 at 5:21 am #
^ review by Chalmers Johnson;
Report thisDemocracy Incorporated By Sheldon S. Wolin; this article by Eugene Robinson just seems out of touch with reality, if not downright irrelevant.
By Vastarien, May 16, 2008 at 4:02 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Nice article, but it’s too little, too late.
Report thisObama is just another yes-man with pretty words and a knife behind his back, just like all the rest of them.
It really does not matter who we choose, we are all just another numbed slave waiting our turn to be shot in the head. This country has no future, its people have no voice, no will, and our self-appointed masters have no soul. May you survive the coming purge.
By Thomas Billis, May 16, 2008 at 2:50 am #
Dear Mr Robinson this total control of government by corporations may have been just the tonic an uninterested electorate needed to bring America back to the greatness its people deserve.The rhtoric of the conservative moment was not clearly understood by the American people.You get nothing and the corporations get everything.The invisible hand of Milton Friedmans capitalism was locked into the wallet of the middle class.The first six years of total control by these people one hopes will cause their demise for the forseeable future.Many I hope will get to improve the quality of our prison inmates by joining that fraternity.Sigma Cum Alcatraz.
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