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Skriven 2006-10-25 14:48:56 av Alan Hess
Ärende: broken government
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.thomas25oct25,0,2755084.s
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From the Baltimore Sun
Broken government


By Cal Thomas

October 25, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Of all the pre-election polls, punditry, analysis and
forecasts, one stands out. It is a new CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research
Corp. that found an overwhelming number of Americans (78 percent) believes "our
system of government is broken."

Democrats predictably blame Republicans for this as part of their strategy for
returning to majority status in Congress. Just as predictably, Republicans
blame Democrats for being "obstructionists" and not letting all that good
legislation hatched by the GOP get through.

It isn't actually our "system" of government that is broken. The Constitution
established an excellent system from which contemporary leaders regularly seem
to depart. The founders gave us the parchment equivalent of a GPS system that,
if followed, gets us where we ought to go, but if ignored causes us to become
lost. No, the system has worked quite well until recently. Rather, it is the
way Republicans (now) and Democrats (when they last had the majority) have made
a mess of it. The system is crumbling under the weight of too many
expectations.

Members of both parties have asked government to do for them what they should
first be doing for themselves. Instead of telling people about
self-sufficiency, government has subsidized and encouraged self-indulgence.
Instead of telling religious people - conservative Christians especially - that
government can't do more for them than the God they claim to worship, both
parties have allowed, even encouraged, believers to think politicians can help
build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Instead of government as a last resort, too many (Republicans included) turn to
government as a first resource. Government was not designed to carry the
burdens placed on it by the public, lawyers and lobbyists.

The founders created a system of limited government. It is not functioning like
one today because we now view government as unlimited. For many, faith in
government is now stronger than faith in God - in practice if not in theory.
Our faith in government to rid the world of totalitarian regimes, while at the
same time caring for children and grandparents whose welfare should be the
first responsibility of their families, was always destined to disappoint.
Democrats tell us that if we return them to power, things will be better. No,
they won't, because the problem isn't which party has a majority. It is far
deeper than that.

In his book, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad,
Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, writes that expanding the
number of congressional committees and subcommittees (which began in 1974) and
opening up the system to more public access had a downside. The post-Watergate
reforms were meant to "make Congress more open and responsive," writes Mr.
Zakaria. "And so it has become - to money, lobbyists and special interests."

Once, members of Congress met behind closed doors for "mark-ups" of
legislation. There, deals were made. Today's openness means that lobbyists
literally monitor the members during this process, and if they hear something
they don't like, they reach for their cell phones. Within minutes, a special
interest group has swamped the member's office with calls and faxes.

In his book Demosclerosis, Jonathan Rauch draws on the insights of economist
Mancur Olson to argue "that the rise of interest groups has made American
government utterly dysfunctional."

That will not change, no matter which party has the majority after the
election, unless both parties in Congress decide to repair it. Both Republicans
and Democrats helped break the system, and voters, as well as nonvoters, let
them get away with it. We wanted government goodies. They wanted to get
re-elected. Lobbyists wanted money. It was an unholy and unhealthy alliance.

Government is like Humpty Dumpty. Unless there is real reform, all the
Democratic horses, just like all the Republican horses, won't be able to put
government back together again.

Cal Thomas' syndicated column appears Wednesdays in The Sun. His e-mail is
calthomas@tribune.com.

Copyright + 2006, The Baltimore Sun | Get Sun home delivery

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