Take A Peek At “Government Is Good”

Take A Peek at the new website Government Is Good. The brainchild of Douglas J. Amy, Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College, Government Is Good should provide Democrats with lots of useful arguments and Republicans with lots of things to debate. And, of course, with bloggers with lots of raw material to become passionate and/or outraged about.

Amy writes:

Why a website extolling the virtues of modern democratic government? Because for years conservative politicians and pundits have been disparaging and demonizing government and too little has been done to defend it. The idea that “government is bad” has been one of the overriding themes of the Republican Party; and it has pledged to reduce government programs to a minimum, except for a few areas like the military and national security. And whenever and wherever conservatives have been in power, they have tried to put their anti-government philosophy into practice by cutting taxes, neglecting social programs, and undermining environmental, consumer, and workplace regulations.

This online resource is a response to this political attack on government and an effort to set the record straight about this much-maligned institution. It will show that government is not a scourge on society; it is a valuable and positive force in the life of every American. Government is not the problem; it is actually the only solution to most of the pressing problems we face as a nation – from global warming to our growing health care crisis. If we want an America that is healthy, secure, well-educated, unpolluted, compassionate, prosperous, just, and free, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector.

And, indeed, we are DEFINITELY in a new era when it’s seemingly harder for Republicans to argue that they are in favor of small government or that government is the problem, as the increasingly popular and quoted Ronald Reagan used to say.

In an era of criticism about government bungling on Hurricane Katrina, criticism about government intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, and a government advocating warrant-less wiretaps, coupled with a massive exertion of executive branch power over the legislature, the days when you could say “Republicans want smaller government and Democrats want bigger government” seem gone. Many Republicans do want bigger government but it depends on what it involves (for instance, for some Republicans such as the increasingly unpopular one in the Oval office it should not involve supporting bipartisan-backed children’s health care.)

Take A Peek at Government Is Good – a site that will provide resources for debate (on both sides).