TIME TRAP

Harold Meyerson, contributor to the American Prospect and columnist for the Washington Post, apparently thinks it is perpetually 1933:

From Ronald Reagan to Newt Gingrich and now to George Bush, the Republicans have developed a clear [theme]: They are the party of risk, which they call "opportunity." This is most certainly not why Bush won reelection; Americans are not pining to pay for their health coverage or retirement or college tuition with no assist from their employers or their government.

To my chagrin, the era of big government isn't quite as over as Clinton declared nearly a decade ago. Indeed, President Bush's "ownership society" is emphatically not a withdrawal of the government from people's lives. Instead it seeks to make government more flexible, to create government-administered individual accounts for the expenses Meyerson lists.

According to Meyerson's risk/opportunity equation, it's obvious that when he sees opportunity, he immediately thinks "risk." The two are inextricable, of course, but there's no reward without it. And he's wrong to think people are perfectly happy with the government as it is. People would like greater flexibility when it comes to health care and Social Security. But Meyerson and his fellow New Deal defenders don't even want to try. That's one more reason why Democrats keep losing elections.