Trego's Mountain Ear

I was reading the Liberal Patriot. The first sentence was “Democrats must first come to terms with Americans’ strong distrust of government.” The third paragraph went a bit farther: ” Progressives by definition are supposed to be invested in making government work and proving the value of a more active state. For insurgents who have made it into office, the allure of attacking the system on the campaign trail has typically given way to the exigencies of preventing government from appearing more dysfunctional than it already seems—even when Republicans hold most of the cards.”

I was reminded of a grad student who was explaining that libertarians should never be elected because their basic belief is that government doesn’t work. If I were listening to his comments today, I’d be pointing out how well government worked in Minnesota, with a bunch of fraudsters ripping off billions. Or the Ukrainian bribes going to Hunter Biden. In my 76 years, I’ve seen many occasions where government was used for private financial enhancement.

The Liberal Patriot continues with this: “Democrats, primed to defend government from the right’s wrecking crew, still fail to see that a proper Tea Party of the left would indeed overhaul government bureaucracies, eliminate fraud and waste, and tame veto-wielding and rent-seeking interests in equal measure, precisely in order to make the state a nimble and credible agent of widening opportunity and national redevelopment.”

It’s enjoyable to read a dem author who is also in the middle of the road. Still, I don’t expect the Liberal Patriot to lead the Democrats with this sort of observations.