Century foundation executive and frequent Washington Monthly contributor Greg Anrig argues in the Washington Post’s Sunday outlook section that GOP ideas on government are on the way out. Anrig presents an argument familiar to Understanding Government readers: that Bush administration scandals from FEMA in New Orleans to Justice Dept. hiring are making Americans pine for a government where civil servants are competent and apolitical. The Reagan-Gingrich-Bush era of eviscerating government is effectively over.

We’ll see. The "Reagan revolution" moved the goal posts so far to the right that the mere idea of a Food and Drug Administration that does its job is now a partisan issue. So when 53 percent of the public says they want government to solve more problems, the extent of that unclear. Anrig argues that John McCain’s "message free" campaign that’s seemingly indifferent to government execution will seriously hurt him. But if McCain does become President, the calls for a more energetic government could fall by the wayside.-MB

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