Tie One Hand Behind Your Back
and see how far you get.
Many in the Democratic Party believe that negative news about Republican office holders will help their own chances in elections. I think they are wrong. All negative news about government leaders and officials, whether corruption, incompetence or self-interest, simply amplifies an already negative view of government capacity.
It follows that the political party that advocates less government in the society benefits and the political party that supports more government is weakened. Since Democrats are usually the party that proposes government-based solutions to current problems, they tend to lose when government performance is viewed negatively.
Nonetheless, Democratic Party leaders generally spend time and money reminding people of either the corruption or failure of Republican governors, legislators and candidates. I see that as a waste of time and money.
Even reports of the success of Republicans in office, may redound to the benefit of Democrats. For example, Governor Romney’s success in Massachusetts with an early version of Obamacare was used successfully as evidence for the benefits of Democratic health care reform.
Actually, both political parties are held back, and the country suffers when government action is viewed as an inevitable failure. Our system is an entanglement of the public and the private at each level of government. Not all failure; not all success. We will not seize the opportunities to meet the challenges of the 21st century, with one hand tied behind our back. And that is how it seems to me when people are unrealistic about the potential of government partnership in cooperative action.