Loss of Faith

Yesterday, Vice President Biden spoke at a fundraiser in Dallas. In his speech, Biden lamented the sagging confidence of the American public in the efficacy of federal government. "I did not anticipate the degree of cynicism that had been reached by the American public" he said, as if his administration bore no fault. Biden went on to blame former President Bush. He claimed that the "greatest damage the Bush administration did - more damaging than the recession, their foreign policy - was the loss of faith the American people had in their government to be able to deliver on anything." That loss of faith has proven frustrating to the administration in its attempt to remake American society. The administration is relying on that trust but they are having a hard time earning it. They need every bit of it they can get their hands on if they are to achieve their ambitions.

Biden effused on how he didn't run for office just to administer the federal government. "I came to make a difference" he said. The administration is not concerned simply with managing the nation's affairs, they want to change America. Putting the cart before the horse, Biden asserted that "If we take care of the next generation, we'll win the next election" As if the American people needed government to take care of them. It is not readily apparent how the administration's policies will affect the future. There is at least one election before the future is here. Nor is it apparent how saddling the future generations with a mountain of debt can be understood as taking care of them. Biden's statement was a reflection of many liberals' desire to be needed by the people. Many liberals live in fear that the people might grow up someday and no longer need them. They want to keep the public at home where they can keep an eye on them and take care of them. Liberals need the public to want the government to take care of them if they are to succeed. They need to be needed.

Speaking with Vice President Biden was Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Durbin spoke with near rapture of the recent passage of of the administration's health care overhaul. "This is the biggest thing I've ever been involved in in my political life. It's new day." Durbin's remark reflects the administration's motives better than Biden's. They are less concerned about the welfare of future generations than they are in carving their names in history.

If the public has lost faith in the efficacy of government, it is not the Republicans' fault. Nor is it the Democrats' fault. It is both their faults. The federal government has run rough shod over the public in recent years. Each party has come to view victory as licence. While Bush often proved indifferent to public opinion, particularly in regard to foreign policy, the Obama administration has proved near contemptuous. The current administration viewed its impressive electoral victory in 2008 as an enthusiastic endorsement of its ambitions. The growing public unease at the administration's policies and the hardening opposition to its agenda suggest that, if there was a genuine endorsement of its policies rather than a simple desire for change and a frustration with Republicans, the public is coming to weary of it. Obama's sagging approval ratings and the optimism of Republicans concerning the Fall elections would seem to indicate that the bloom is off the rose for Obama.

At the moment, the administration is almost giddy over their victory on health care. The narrowness of that victory and the bitter contest that preceded it was not simple cynicism on the part of the public. It was genuine disagreement and distaste for the ambitions of government. Obama and the Democrats' heavy hand and strident rhetoric in pushing legislation through Congress has done more to embitter the electorate than Bush's policies. Biden has evidently forgotten the enthusiasm with which the electorate embraced Obama's election and the optimism it engendered as well as the message of hope that they ran on. If that optimism and hope are now spent, it is not the fault of Republicans. It certainly is not Bush's fault. It is the administration's fault.

It was Obama that tried to remake America. It was Obama who strove to create one new massive program after another. If there is a frustration on the part of the public as to the ability of government to right all wrongs and fix every problem, it is the government's fault for suggesting that it could right all wrongs and fix every problem. Reality is not as pliable as politicians would have us believe. The cynicism of the American public is the result of its realization that politics is politics and that it has fallen for a pitch yet another time.

In the face of waning public support for health care and increasing unease, the administration only increased its efforts to get its legislation passed. They didn't want the public to catch up. They did not want to wait for the fall elections to see if the electorate supported their efforts. Their reliance on bribes and procedural maneuvers to get their health care legislation through Congress was the very height of Washington politics and deal making. The massive spending by the Obama administration has cast a pall over Washington and the nation in regard to the nation's future and undermined the optimism of the American public. Its ambitions have made the public uneasy. Its stumbling in regard to the economy has done little, if anything, to restore confidence.

If you take the appeal and charisma of Obama out of the equation, it is likely the electorate would be downright hostile to government and its policies. It is Obama that is keeping the whole enterprise afloat. A president with less appeal than Obama would be hunkered in the White House by now, not out making speeches and giving interviews. The Democrats can blame the Republicans for the growing distaste for government, but unless they reevaluate their strategies and policies, there is little chance the public is going to change its opinion. If the Democrats insist on trying to change society and stiff arming the Republicans, the animosity in Washington will continue to grow and that animosity will spill over into the electorate. Confidence in government will continue to decline.

The Republicans are not to blame for the growing decline of faith in Washington. Washington is. Time and again, Washington over reaches in its ambitions. Time and again, Washington avows it will achieve some great thing. Rarely are great things be achieved. Washington's greatest achievements in the last 100 years were winning WWII and putting a man on the moon. Other than that, it has largely been a failure. When government fails to realize its goals often enough, the public will start to lose faith. If health care reform fails to pan out as promised, yet more faith will be lost. In that case, the Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves.

Americans don't always want, or need big things from government. Sometimes it is enough if the government would just leave the them alone. But there is no glory in that. The government doesn't want to leave the people alone. Like a doting parent, government constantly wants to help and be appreciated and so is constantly interfering and seeking to gain attention. It is quick to offer help but often inept at delivering it. What help it does provide always comes at a cost. The cynicism of the American people is not manufactured, it is earned. If Washington wants the faith and trust of the American public, it will have to work for it. And, if it achieves it, it will have to keep it.