Tom Watson

Think Governing’s Easy?

Those of us on the outside - the pundits, the bloggers, the navel-gazers and thumb-suckers - seem often totake it as Gospel that we'd do a better job if only the electorate would accept and endorse our agenda. What, me govern? No problem. That attitude (and I'm as guilty as anyone) ignores the canvassing, the writing, the arm-twisting - the "hard work" to quote our Dear Leader - of actual governance. Thankfully, there are some thumb-suckers .... er, bloggers ... capable of bringing us back to earth, and with style. One of those is the voluble Lance Mannion, who delights the wonksters among us with his two-part tale of his father's work as a local politician: and refreshes our sense of actual government in the bargain. [Part one is here. Part deux is here.]

It's a nifty bit of writing about running for office and governing, and I think the posts capture the limited upside - and not so catastrophic downside, either - of true, local politics. Here's a brief taste; it picks up after a coalition of Demcracts sweeps into power:

They didn't go on a spending toot. These were post-Jimmy Carter Democrats. Pretty soon they would be Bill Clinton Democrats. They were fiscally more conservative than Democrats were usually thought to be. Democrats have always been pretty fiscally conservative. That is, they've been responsible. When Republicans sneer at tax and spend Democrats they are admitting to a truth. Democrats know there is no such thing as a free lunch. Bills have to be paid. My father has always believed this. One of the things he likes about Howard Dean is that Dean likes to say something my father used to say himself before he ever heard of Dean, "Republicans can't be trusted with money."

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Posted at 1:10 PM, Oct 11, 2005 in Progressive Agenda
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