Why We Suck

[acesfull86]

https://reason.com/2022/06/10/why-everything-about-politics-sucks-in-1-chart/



New polling released this week by the Pew Research Center reports that large numbers of Americans both distrust their government and theoretically want to empower their government to do more, believing that the proper role of government is to protect people from themselves.

"Just 20% say they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing just about always or most of the time," reports Pew, noting that this finding has held steady over time, "chang[ing] very little since former President George W. Bush's second term in office." Only 8 percent of survey respondents describe the federal government as "responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans."

"Just 6% say the phrase 'careful with taxpayer money' describes the federal government extremely or very well; another 21% say this describes the government somewhat well," notes Pew, which conducted these polls at the end of April.

…

You might think such fiscal profligacy and broad-based incompetence would scare people off from wanting the government to do more.

You would be mistaken: Americans' views on a variety of political issues are frequently paradoxical, which would be funny if it weren't so disturbing.

A staggering 59 percent of survey respondents from both parties say it is the government's job "to protect people from themselves," with 38 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaners endorsing that belief, and 77 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaners. Meanwhile, 65 percent of all respondents report that all or most people who pursue elected office at all levels "do so to serve their own personal interests."

It is these people—the self-serving ones who have historically failed to deliver results and been wasteful with taxpayer money—that the majority of Americans think will use their power to smartly protect people from themselves. What?


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Maybe one day we’ll realize less government is the answer. Not a fruitless quest to put the “right” people in charge.

 

[nsacpi]

I'd say one of the main differences with countries that generate better outcomes and us is they avoid having public policy captured by various interest groups.

Healthcare policy is made without undue influence from the medical care profession and pharmacological companies.

Public sector unions in those countries have a more limited role in diverse areas from education to prisons to law enforcement.

Utilities don't capture the regulatory bodies in charge of regulating them.

If we want to "suck less" we should consider taking steps to reduce the influence of these and other interest groups. That way public policy will better reflect the public interest rather than the private interests of these special interest groups.

We have an economy where more and more industries have monopolistic and oligopolistic characteristics. The antitrust laws on the books need to be more energetically put to use to prevent concentrations of market power.

All this is hard AND boring. But many peer-group countries manage to do it better than we do.

We skate by because we have some world-beating areas of strength. These areas of strength are intertwined in various synergistic ways.

Finance. Aka Wall Street.

High tech. Aka Silicon Valley.

Popular culture. From Hollywood to hip hop.

The world's best university system. By far.

The world's strongest military. By far.

Outside of these areas of excellence, the United States has become a distinctly mediocre country. But our men's soccer team is getting better at the world's game. That gives me a little hope. Emphasis on little.