Worth A Read

Posted March 4, 2009 at 12:42 PM

http://www.afscmeblog.org/2009/03/04/worth-a-read-3/

There was a very good post recently on the Huffington Post by Drew Westen about how anti-government ideology is the reason our country is in the mess in the first place and why it certainly is not the solution to our economic problems now.

"There was something to Reagan's critique [of government], but his solution was too simple. Government is neither the problem nor the solution. Government is nothing other than us-the citizens of this country-coming together to solve our shared problems, and if it's ineffective, we need leaders with the courage and the vision to speak the truth and fix it. Unfortunately, over the next 30 years, the pendulum swung so far from Roosevelt's vision of government for the people-federal protection of our bank accounts, a minimum wage to guarantee that people who work hard can feed their families, Social Security so Americans can be assured of dignity in their twilight years, worker safety laws so they make it to those years, unemployment insurance to protect us against the inevitable ups and downs of the market, and regulations on Wall Street speculation that could prevent another crash-that we found ourselves right back where we were 80 years ago, with an unregulated market running amok, an ethic of unfettered greed, and a lot of good people losing their jobs, their livelihoods, their retirement, their health care, and their dreams through no fault of their own.

It's time for politicians to stop running for or against government and to start running it well. It's time to set aside rigid ideologies and deal with the realities that confront us. We have an economy that is spiraling downward, and we have so tied our hands with unpatriotic, anti-government rhetoric that we haven't invested in our own country in decades. It's no accident that our bridges are crumbling, our levees aren't holding, and our children aren't getting the world-class education that will allow them to compete in the global economy. It's no accident that we can't trust the water our children drink, the food we eat, or the banks that finance our mortgages."

You would think the Republican leadership might change its tune with our country in such crisis. Nope. Not one-that's right, zero-House Republican voted for President Obama's stimulus plan, and only three (Specter - PA, Snowe and Collins - ME) voted for it in the Senate. And this ruinous thinking was on full display in Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's response on behalf of the Republican party to President Obama's address to Congress last week. Governor Jindal even scoffed at government spending on disaster preparedness!

Read Westen's full post Rebranding Government: It's Time Politicians Stopped Running For or Against Government and Started Running it Well.