Kennedy, Katrina, and the role of government.

As we reflect on the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and the role that the U.S. government failed to play in protecting citizens trapped in New Orleans and elsewhere, the words of President John F. Kennedy ring boldly through the decades.

In a 1962 commencement speech to Yale University graduates, Kennedy stated:

   There are three great areas
   of our domestic affairs
   in which, today, there is a
   danger that illusion may
   prevent effective action.
   They are, first, the question
   of the size and the shape of
   government's responsibilities;
   secondly, the question
   of public fiscal policy; and
   third, the matter of confidence
   in America.

Throughout the rest of the speech, Kennedy insightfully outlined his view about the proper role of government. He framed the discourse by asking two key questions:

   How do we eradicate
   the barriers which separate
   substantial minorities
   of our citizens from access
   to education and employment
   on equal terms with
   the rest?

   How can we make our
   free economy work at full
   capacity--that is, provide
   adequate profits for enterprise,
   adequate wages for
   labor, and opportunity for
   all?

In recent years, America's political leaders have answered those questions by downplaying government's role--even to the point of demeaning it. Instead, they have promoted the notion of the individual as the essential actor in an "ownership society"

Since Ronald Reagan's presidency conservatives have mounted an ideological campaign to malign government and portray it as "part of the problem" Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush continued this attack, part of a decades-long strategy to enact huge tax cuts by portraying government as an ineffective bumbler and sugar daddy for welfare queens and wasteful programs. President Bill Clinton signed up the Democrats for this detail when, with one eye on reelection, he declared that the "era of big government is over."

Yet as we helplessly watched on our television sets the rising pools of water drowning an entire region and its people, with the poorest and most vulnerable citizens suffering most from Hurricane Katrina's destruction, it raised uncomfortable questions such as, "Why, in the world's wealthiest society, were these citizens so poor and vulnerable to begin with?"

The answer strikes at the heart of conservative ideology: that government is "part of the problem" But surely, hundreds of thousands of people from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, whether Republican or Democrat, are wishing they had had more government protection, not less, prior to the storm and in the days afterward.

Under conservative attack for decades, the government has suffered a massive public relations crisis. It has gotten no credit for the good things it has done and all the blame and scorn for the mistakes it has made.

But whether the service is delivering the mail; taking care of seniors via Social Security and Medicare; constructing roads and highways; doing scientific research; or creating or managing telecommunications, hospitals, schools, national parks, railroads, airways and waterways, defense, environmental protection, the Internet, and much, much more, government has been the leading player, often partnering with America's businesses.

Government has protected the economy by regulating interest rates and inflation and has encouraged the growth of the middle class with pro-homeownership policies, worker protections, the forty-hour workweek, and paid vacations and holidays. And yes, the federal government has been there many times in the past to shoulder the burden following natural disasters.

Americans should be proud of the many accomplishments of their government. Yet instead of a balanced discourse about the proper role of government, its good and its ills, that discourse has become entangled in a partisan war. But President Kennedy tried to move this discussion away from partisanship, saying,

   What is at stake in our
   economic decisions today
   is not some grand
   warfare of rival ideologies
   which will sweep the
   country with passion, but
   the practical management
   of a modern economy.
   What we need is not labels
   and cliches but more basic
   discussion of the sophisticated
   and technical questions
   involved in keeping a
   great economic machinery
   moving ahead.

Now, in the wake of the disastrous Hurricane Katrina, is a perfect time for Americans of all stripes to reflect on the proper role of government in the "practical management of a modern economy" That discussion also should include a dialogue about just who benefits from that modern economy. After two decades of shoving government to the margins--and the poorest and weakest Americans along with it--it is time to renew this dialogue with vigor.

Yes, it's true, government can be good for you. If one of the consequences of this natural disaster is that we Americans reevaluate our views of government, that will be a very good outcome indeed.

Steven Hill is an Irvine Senior Fellow with the New America Foundation and author of Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics (www.fixingelections.com).