A friend on Facebook a while ago posted a Pat Bagley editorial cartoon that progressives were circulating to poke fun at the far right view that government seldom does useful work.
The cartoon had an old tea party type snarling, "Government never does anything right," set against a tableau of some of the greatest achievements of our national leadership: the drafting of the Constitution, the abolition of slavery, the national parks, the interstate highway system, the victory in World War II and the moon landing.
Impressive deeds, to be sure, but it struck me that the most recent great accomplishment of government the cartoonist could think of occurred 43 years ago. "That’s kind of sad, actually," I commented.
My friend responded that the Internet might be added as a more recent achievement of government.
"I forget," I replied, "did Al Gore invent the Internet before or after he got into government?"
I know, Al Gore never actually said he invented the Internet, but you get the point. While there’s little argument that government has done some great things in the course of our history, it’s coming up woefully short on the question of, "What have you done for us lately?"
It applies locally as well as nationally; Hawaii saw great strides in state-building and social legislation in the two decades after statehood, but since then, major lasting achievements by our state and county governments are few and far between.
The politics of our time are defined by a self-entitled class of career elected officials, a corrupt prevalence of special-interest money, a lust for blood sport, partisan obstructionism, ideological buffoonery and a disengaged electorate that doesn’t care enough to take out the trash.
In the presidential race, Republican Mitt Romney seems ready to say anything to get elected as he distances himself from his moderate past to win over his party’s right wing.
His running mate, tea party favorite Paul Ryan, is busily distancing himself from some of his more extreme views on social and fiscal issues to win over mainstream voters.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has adopted a dual strategy of embellishing his thin achievements while blaming GOP-created gridlock for his failure to achieve.
In Hawaii’s U.S. Senate race, a once-in-a-generation chance to make a difference, we have a choice between two candidates who have few true signature achievements in more than 50 years of elected office between them.
Democrat Mazie Hirono and Republican Linda Lingle have lived down to the low expectations by conducting campaigns that consist primarily of throwing stink bombs at one another.
Sadly, it’s difficult to see this election — no matter who wins — adding to the list of great American achievements that seemed to end with the moon landing.
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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
