Why should one expect voters to recognize the kind of competence that makes busses available for emergency evacuation, that keeps the levees maintained, that registers folks without cars? That sort of competence doesn't show up, when there isn't a disaster, except in a lot more fussing about hiring personnel and some big numbers in operations budgets. The competent administrator will not look flashy, and his or her accomplishments will be largely that disasters don't happen, that people take a level of security and comfort and opportunity to be just normal, just their God-given right. If government is going really well, nobody thinks about it.
I suspect that democracy is the best form of government for people to think they have, and that, behind the scenes, all sorts of folks work terribly hard to try to give them something better.
Posted by shea0017 at September 6, 2005 10:42 AM