Putting Things in Perspective

I recently came across a quote from former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen: "Government is your enemy until you need a friend." That could explain why Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has gone from opposing "big government" to asking for the Federal government's help in dealing with the recent oil spill.

Interesting to me to see Jindal and other GOP politicians complaining that the government is not doing enough to respond to the Big Spill off the coast of Louisiana and should have provided a closer oversight of operations. This blather from the crowd that was calling for "Drill Baby, Drill" in the 2008 elections and has been active in limiting government's oversight role. The GOP has come a long way (and not for the better) from the days when Teddy Roosevelt believed conservation was a moral imperative and said, "I believe that the natural resources must be used for the benefit of all the people, and not monopolized for the benefits of a few" and the nation faced no task more important than "the central task of leaving this land even a better place for our descendents than it is for us."

Writing in 2000 in his book The Paradox of Democracy: Elites, Special Interests, and the Betrayal of Public Trust, John B. Judis wrote, "Periods of prosperity should provide welcome opportunities to strengthen our institutions to prepare for future adversity, but our political institutions make it impossible to adopt far-reaching policies, particularly if they threaten vested interests.  Like holiday travelers, we are prepared for the pleasures of the next stop, but are completely ill-equipped to handle even the smallest crisis, let alone a severe economic downturn or a war."

By 2000 both parties, influenced by contributions from the banking industry, had supported changes in the law that led to the financial crisis we're still dealing with. Rather than using tranquil times to prepare for a better future, we've seemingly adopted the attitude "Let the good times roll".

I'm hoping that post-Baby Boomer voters will be make better choices in future elections and that public sentiment will come to embrace a better consideration of the effects of actions taken today on future generations.