NYT posted a fine article on the 23rd about the rampant distrust of ‘Washington.’
Right at the beginning, it cited a statistic from 2019 that just 17% of our citizens trusted the federal government to ‘do the right thing.’
I am one of the 83% who shares that perspective. And, I suspect, the percentage is even lower, given the incredible crisis in which we find ourselves, with unemployment at levels unprecedented in our lifetimes (at least, those of us not alive in 1929), with absolutely no cohesive plan for dealing with the many issues facing us.
More below.
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‘Failing to plan is planning to fail.’
It’s a famous adage (sometimes attributed to Ben Franklin https://www.batimes.com/articles/failing-to-plan-is-planning-to-fail.html), of course. I can’t think of any sentence that more accurately describes this administration. I am sure that some critics use it from time to time, but I don’t understand why it isn’t more pervasive than his miserable tweets.
But the problem I have with the conclusion of the NYT article is that it tends to regard ‘Washington’ as a single entity, a single phenomenon. It is the kind of false equivalence we see so often in this toxic political environment. The great problem with it is, it bolsters the hideous Reagan theory that ‘government is the problem, not the solution.’
So even if THEY cause 99% of the problems with ‘Washington,’ Democrats are at least as damaged and as undermined as Republicans.
Washington doesn’t’t have to be as it is. It doesn’t have to turn a blind eye to the failings of this administration. It doesn’t have to rubber stamp the rampant wrongdoing and corruption. It certainly doesn’t have to provide cover for those failing to serve the people of this country,
But, as long as Washington is under Republican control, the situation isn’t going to improve. Indeed, it is going to worsen, as surely as the infection and death rates will continue to rise.
And, as long as voters block all members of the Republican part=y from consequence for the harm they have caused, the approval numbers aren’t going to improve. The only viable path forward means removing ‘Washington’ from Republican control. Because (and I know you all know this) Washington isn’t the problem at all. Republican-controlled Washington is. And that includes the judiciary.
Thanks for reading. I hope your Memorial Day has been a fine one, and special thanks to those who have served our country, in other hard times.
On to tonight’s comments! Formatted by brillig! Who well understands the failings of Republican Washington.
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From tampaedski:
JacquesRigaut hits it out of the park with this comment from Ryan in FL’s I think this crisis has given us the key to the conservative mindset: A hierarchy of fears.
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