Big Government's Back

I swear I read blogs other than Matt Yglesias's. But his post on a new Center for American Progress poll on American's views on government is really valuable. Matt writes:

And on specifics, there’s a strong desire for high levels of government spending with 79 percent agreeing that “Government investments in education, infrastructure, and science are necessary to ensure America’s long-term economic growth” and 69 percent agreeing that “Government has a responsibility to provide financial support for the poor, the sick, and the elderly.” This fairly overwhelming support for spending is tempered by more conservative views on some other issue area, and also by concern that government does work well in practice. 61 percent agree that “Government spending is almost always wasteful and inefficient.” CAP also coded as “progressive” the 65 percent who agreed that “Government policies too often serve the interests of corporations and the wealthy” but at least some of that might be skepticism about the idea that an activist federal government will actually side with average people, rather than a belief that we need to reverse the small-government policies of the past 30 years.

Matt's writing about the survey in the context of what it says about how progressive or conservative Americans are. But I think this also represents a very important opportunity for the federal government. Americans want the government to do a bunch of very specific things right now, and feel urgently that it's important the government does them well. It's a rare chance to catch the public's attention and build a reserve trust in government capacity. That reserve of trust is a huge source of momentum for reform in things like the hiring system. If agencies fail to deliver, it won't be just President Obama, or liberals who suffer the consequences. It'll be government as a whole.