The New Republic’s John Judis takes an historical look at Americans anti-government sentiment, specfically how greater government intervention has run up against free-market ideology:

But, even during the high tides of liberal reform, free-market ideology held sway. In 1935, Americans overwhelmingly backed specific New Deal programs, but Gallup found them opposed to an increase in government regulation by 53 percent to 37 percent. In a pathbreaking 1967 book, The Political Beliefs of Americans, political scientists Lloyd Free and Hadley Cantril found that Americans suffer from a contradiction between “ideological conservatism” and “operational liberalism.” According to their analysis of surveys they had conducted, only 16 percent of Americans–with blacks and Jews leading the way–were ideologically and operationally liberal.

This directly relates to the Obama administration’s struggles to enact its agenda. It’s bascially a conceit of Obama that even in lieu of a financial meltdown nobody likes government. Obama declared in his inaugural address that we wants not a “big or small government but a government that works.” That sounds like operational liberalism: Nobody likes the idea of government, but government must operate in a way that rights the economy, the health care system, our level of greenhouse gas emissions and so forth. Government should not take over but instead nudge the private sector in the right direction.

The problem is that Obama lacks examples to show that government does work. The New Deal worked politically because Americans could directly see how it benefited them — a new job, a new public works project, a parent who received social security. The financial rescue and even the stimulus package have used tremendous amounts of taxpayer money to accomplish goals that are far too difficult to discern. The stimulus has created economic growth. But who cares if I know even more people this fall who are unemployed or under-employed than last fall? Perhaps part of the reason the national debt has gained traction as a bipartisan talking point is that it’s easy to understand borrowing and owing money. Obama probably needs to present specific examples of why more government spending is good in order for Congress and the public to have faith in his agenda.  This means a more direct approach — maybe even direct job creation.

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