People Who Hate Government Shouldn't Run Government

".....the country could, in fact, get very excited again about the opportunity to make government work", Newt Gingrich, April 16, 2006, talking about the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

The above quote illustrates a fundmental problem with Gingrich's logic. The problem is that a lot of conservatives in goverment don't want the government to work. They hate goverment, have contempt for government, and don't think that there is much that government can, and more importantly, should do. The problem is, of course, that the American public doesn't agree. So what happens is that radical conservatives hide their real feelings about government from the voters. They realize that American voters who aren't nearly as driven by ideology as by the desire for results won't accept candidates who come right out and say that they want to be elected so they can dismantle the government.

So they hide their real intentions. They don't say they want to destroy Social Security, they say they want to "improve it" and "reform it." They pass an education act that imposes mandates on public schools, but doesn't provide enough funding to meet these mandates, and call it the "No Child Left Behind" act. Tax breaks for the wealthy get packaged as "creating jobs."

Why do they resort to such dishonest language? Well, imagine what would happen if they actually used real language to describe what they want. Bush's poll numbers would be down below 30, instead of down below 40, in the "approve of" category.

Ever so often, though, something comes along with strips away the veneer and exposes the real aim of the radical right of the GOP. In September of 2005 it was Hurricane Katrina. Then it becomes very apparent that turning the government over to people who hate government can, literally, kill you.

This is the simple message that Democrats need to carry to the American people: you wouldn't turn your family, your home, or your church over to someone who hated them, why should you do that to your government?___________________________________________________________________
MCDAC gives permission for the use of the above without attribution.