Shocks to the System

This weekend, I raised the question of whether the massive government intervention in the financial markets will turn out to be a "game-changer in terms of the way Americans view their government."

Now I'd like to throw a little cold water on that notion.

There have been three huge shocks to the national system during the Bush administration: the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the recent financial meltdown brought on by the collapse of the housing market. Each of those provoked a massive response of the federal government. Does that add up to a new era of trust in government? Not necessarily.

People want government to get them out of messes, whether they result from the actions of our enemies, the effects of natural disasters, or the mistakes of corporate leaders. But once the initial shock is over, Americans tend to go back to distrusting bureaucrats and bureaucracy. In 2002, I addressed this phenomenon in an essay in Government Executive:

At that time, polls were showing that Americans had great faith in government institutions. But I noted that Bill Schneider, a polling expert and senior political analyst at CNN, had pointed out that "it's not so much trust in government but hope in government that is triumphing." The "dirty little secret" of polling, Schneider said, is that "people try to give the right answer" to questions asked by pollsters. After the terrorist attacks hit home, he said, the correct answer was an attitude he characterized as "defiant optimism." In the event of another large-scale terrorist attack, Schneider said, "public support [for government] could very quickly evaporate."

In fact, it didn't even take a terrorist attack. Katrina wiped out a large portion of the support for government that had built up since 9/11.

Now the financial crisis has brought with it the hope that Uncle Sam can ride in to the rescue. But Americans' love-hate relationship with big government extends back more than 200 years. Don't expect it to end any time soon.