By Lee H. Hamilton
We are locked in a seemingly permanent debate over the proper size and
scope of government. It was a centerpiece of the recent presidential campaign.
It features heavily in the ongoing maneuvering over the “fiscal cliff” and the
upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling. And it surfaces regularly in the
speeches and comments of politicians and opinion leaders who either take the
government to task for growing too large or argue that it needs to play an even
more active role than it does now.
I don’t expect this argument to end anytime soon — after all, it’s been a
feature of political life for as long as any of us can remember. But no matter
how we view the role of government, there’s one thing most of us do agree on:
whatever government does, it should do it well.
Recently, I read a compelling speech by a prominent corporate CEO who
criticized the federal government for creating an environment of uncertainty and
stifling the engines of market growth — and then went on to lay out plans for
economic renewal that all involved the government: a revamped education policy,
more investment in infrastructure and in basic research, changes to the tax code
to reward innovation. His speech underscores a basic truth about American life:
we can argue about the fine points of its reach, but the importance of
government’s role in our lives is inescapable.
This does not mean that government is the answer to everything — far from
it. Nor, however, does the anti-government rhetoric that so often marks our
politics show much sign of being rooted in reality. When we want to build roads
and bridges, operate schools and keep our cities safe, create conditions under
which businesses can thrive, respond to natural disasters or attacks on our
security, we turn to government at some level. And we expect the people who run
it — the leaders as well as those on the front lines — to be good at what they
do.
As Alexander Hamilton put it, “A government ill-executed, whatever may be
the theory, in practice is poor government.” You don’t want second-rate
scientists doing cancer research, second-rate lawyers negotiating arms control
treaties, second-rate bureaucrats helping your community recover from a
hurricane or flooding, second-rate inspectors making sure your hamburger is free
from e. coli, or second-rate air traffic controllers guiding your plane through
crowded airspace. None of us wants to live with a government that is incompetent
in the exercise of its important functions.
For this reason, Americans are not as anti-government in practice as their
“get government off our backs” rhetoric would often suggest. We turn again and
again to government to solve the problems we complain about. And however easy it
might be to rail against Washington or against “big government,” it’s the
institutions of government you turn to when you need them.
Constructive criticism of Congress is always appropriate, but the
anti-government language that so often gets bandied about creates distrust of
the very institutions we rely on to meet the challenges and solve the problems
that confront us as a nation. I sometimes find myself wondering how far we can
erode confidence in our officials and our government and still have a country
that works.
Whatever the particular policies of a given administration, whatever
programs are enacted by the Congress, the American public is entitled to have
those policies and programs administered effectively, efficiently and
competently. This cannot be done without skillful civil servants and a steady
stream of talented people who are attracted to public service.
My sense is that the public is demanding more from government, not in size,
but in performance. Americans want government to work better for less, and the
only way to achieve this is for government to become more effective and
productive in dealing with the challenges before us.
Lee Hamilton is Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana
University. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34
years.
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