Jeb Bush Is No Anti-Government Crusader

This week, National Journal’s Ron Fournier scored an exclusive interview with Jeb Bush after the would-be Republican presidential contender addressed the Detroit Economic Club. It turned out that the latest Bush to weigh a White House run is pretty animated on the subject of the role of government -- and doesn’t seem to share the shrink-it-at-all-costs view that has dominated the GOP in recent years.

Bush expressed the view that government could learn a lot from the emerging “shared economy,” in which firms such as Uber and Airbnb are rapidly growing. “In the shared economy, how does government work for people? It doesn't,” Bush told Fournier.

But the former Florida governor was quick to add that the solution isn’t simply getting government out of the picture. “The answer isn't no government," he said. "The answer is smarter, effective government."

“I think the challenge is how do we move to a 21st-century government to deal with 21st-century opportunities and challenges?" Bush added.

Overhauling the way government operates in the economy “should not be an ideological question," Bush told Fournier. Rather, he said, it’s about “just recognizing the way world works." He did add, however, that “smaller would work better than bigger."

On the whole, Bush doesn’t sound all that different than another recent occupant of the White House, who said, “We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government.”

That was none other than President Obama, in his second inaugural address.