How to discredit government

There is a tried and true way to prove that government can’t do anything right.

You campaign successfully for office.  Then you deny the government agencies you’ve targeted sufficient funds to do the job (as with the Veterans Administration) or add requirements they can’t meet (as with the US Postal Service) or appoint incompetent managers (as with FEMA under the Bush administration).  Sit back and watch your victims struggle.   Give the predictable failure as a reason for abolishing the program or turning it over to for-profit business.

This is as old a technique as the Biblical story of Pharaoh ordering the Hebrew slaves to make bricks without straw.

I do not claim that government provides the solution to every problem.  I do not deny there are governmental agencies or programs that ought to be abolished.  I do not make excuses for bad management.  But none of this applies to the VA, the USPS or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which worked just fine until they were undermined.

Tags: Discrediting Government, FEMA, Postal Service, Republicans, Veterans Administration