DETAILS MATTER by Bob Ginsburg January 18, 2021
2021 IS A POLITICAL AND CULTURAL OPPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE THAT GOVERNMENT IS WORTH FULLY FUNDING.
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2021 IS A POLITICAL AND CULTURAL OPPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE THAT GOVERNMENT IS WORTH FULLY FUNDING.
IF WE CAN’T PROVIDE SUFFICIENT PUBLIC REVENUE AND MAKE PROGRAMS MORE EQUITABLE NOW, THEN HAVE WE GIVEN UP ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT? IS THERE NO TURNING BACK THE IDEOLOGY OF REAGAN’S FIRST INAUGURAL?
"It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. … In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” President Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural, January 20, 1981
Ronald Reagan claimed to want to make government work better but what it really reflected was a desire to turn back the New Deal regulation and the Civil Rights movement. Grover Norquist’s 2001 desire (Taxpayer “Protection” Pledge) to first starve government and then make it so small “he could drown it in a bathtub” was a desire to make property rights, corporate deregulation and Jim Crow absolute. Many more eloquent writers discuss this and I will not attempt to paraphrase them. I can send several articles discussing that to anyone interested. However, it is clear that Trump took that existing discontent with government that had not really been countered and extended and exploited it and through his election institutionalized it in the Republican Party along with the white supremacists. Countering it will neither be easy or straightforward but will be critically important. We need to move beyond symbolic victories to clear and demonstrable results.
It will not be enough to propose big policies. We also need to make sure, at the same time that those policies are implemented well and people recognize the benefits they get. If the Biden Administration “America Rescue Plan” (Biden) is adopted and implemented many people will see several tangible benefits in their community. That is an essential start to countering the perception that the government has not done enough or somehow has “helped other people.” Countering Trumpism requires real steps to address the legacy of racism and slavery and to bring the New Deal into the 21st century. The Trump failures in the pandemic from testing and vaccine deployment are partially due to the hollowing out and underfunding of our public health infrastructure after decades of underfunding our critical infrastructure and public services.
It will not be enough for the federal government to take steps to revive the idea that government is a positive force. It often takes years for the benefits of federal programs to become apparent- look how long it took before the ACA (or at least key parts of it) became untouchable. We need to make the implementation publicly visible and transparent from the beginning so people can take ownership of the changes. Therefore, we need to pay attention to how these programs are implemented and delivered at the state and local level. Implementing the $15 minimum wage is pretty straightforward. More investment in communities of color will not be. Nor will the criminal justice system changes. The criminal justice reforms just passed in Illinois will not implement themselves. Right now they will be implemented by many people who don’t like those changes. How we oversee implementation of the new Chicago Pilot Program with alternative responses to 911 calls is critical. If it does not work well, it will then become harder to expand.
It is time we look at the policy proposals from more than a political (electoral) lens but from the perspective of how we want those changes carried out and the people running those programs. In 1981 the Heritage Foundation’s goals for the new Reagan Administration were to set in place personnel and decision-making policies to create turnover in agencies and change the culture so that working in a government agency was not a lifetime career choice and, at most, just an initial training job before moving to the private sector. 40 years later we see the results in both agency staffing and public perception. Even progressives often do not think that government is competent. The immediate challenge is providing sufficient and stable funding the State, County and City Budget so we can improve the stability and creativity of government agencies. While the likelihood of substantial federal support is greater now, decades of underfunding government have left us with huge structural deficits and agencies with uneven capabilities due to staff reductions and unimaginative management
Even if the Feds dramatically step up in the next 6 months, the State’s budget deficit will shrink from $4.9Billion to maybe something on the order of $1-2 Billion. The City deficit would shrink next year from $1.5Billion to, at best, approximately $800Million. These are still historically large deficits. Without new and predictable funding, there will be more staffing cuts (beyond the already announced $700 Million in state budgets cuts and furloughs) or agency reductions. The more cuts we allow, the more difficult it will be to implement new programs.
As I have said before, the state cannot go into a shell after the failure of the Fair Tax We need to be clear that first we need to fix state and municipal funding crises with more revenue from wealthier residents and a move to help middle and working class residents. THEN we need to fully fund plan the $45 Billion State infrastructure plan and redirect the funding and spending to address the needs of underserved communities and those most impacted by the pandemic.
STRATEGY SHOULD SHAPE LEGISLATION
There are many ways to make this happen but we need to provide legislators with enough information and expertise to negotiate the details. As long as the executive branch and the private sector have a near monopoly on technical expertise, we cannot readily shape the details of legislation. In some places a fairly complete infrastructure to support legislation exists (e.g. Washington, California, New York). In other places such as Ohio, Illinois the network of think tanks and university centers supporting practitioners is much slimmer.
I just finished reading a book about the beginning of the Revolutionary War (“The Compleat Victory” by Kevin Weddle, Oxford Press, 2020) where the British had more and better troops but the Americans had a better grip on the realities on the ground and created a strategy to maximize their successes. It is not a completely accurate analogy but the forces around Reagan and Norquist have always represented a minority of the population (at least according to polling data) but their strategy has been much more effective at winning elections and implementing their policies. 40 years in we are still fighting on their turf.
The last budget and election cycle should have been a resounding achievement. While we won the White House and dumped Trump, we are not in a stronger position to make the changes needed. Despite vast support for changing how public safety budgets are allocated, we got a few pilot programs in the City Budget. Small changes in the County Budget for some new programs, we overmatched by other reductions especially in the Hospital system. The state does not appear to have the will to find other ways to raise revenue so that cuts and borrowing may lead the way.
The Legislative Black Caucus has showed a way to move the needle. Their comprehensive packages are leading the discussions even without figuring out how to pay for the new education and economic development programs. Without new funding and creative implementation, the elimination of cash bond could go the route of New York or California rather than New Jersey (Sun Times). Only time will tell.