Yesterday on Slate.com, William Saletan helped to put some perspective on Reagan's passing. I feel much of this kind of clear-the-air commentary is worthwhile since you will no doubt be reading & hearing about how Reagan was one of the best presidents in history. Granted, such glowing retrospection will further shatter the myth of the liberal media bias, but nonetheless it will be interesting to see the degree of objectivity in the expected onslaught of revisionist analysis.

Saletan discusses what he refers to as "Reagan's Law," that being "As government expands, liberty contracts." He argues against it attempting to instill a sense of grey area which so often is lacking from the starkly black/white world of conservatism (you're either with them on an issue -- or against; there's no icky in-between). Just give a listen to Sean Hannity's radio show and get back to me when you hear him wrestling with the complicated grey area. I am willing to wager I won't be hearing from you anytime soon as he -- like Rush et al, and a 6-year old child for that matter -- views the world simply as right & wrong, 'nuf said.

Saletan states, "Liberty doesn't necessarily contract as government expands. Sometimes, you need more government to get more liberty." Of course, this introduces "messy" subtleties and nuances, something not tolerated by the far right. However, on May 11th, I wrote about a similar point, that being that the everyday apparatus of the federal government actually got many things right prior to the 9-11 attack and it was the higher-up, appointed administration figures that got it wrong. A reprise of that post:

One big realization that comes to mind when reading through James Fallows' excellent "Blind Into Baghdad" is that during these trying last few years our government has continuously worked, or gotten it right, and repeatedly it's Bush & Co. who have gotten it wrong. As taxpayers, we should understand and appreciate that the non-appointed aspects of the federal system appear to have functioned just fine, but as citizens we have been ripped off when the higher-ups have chosen to ignore or discard such terrific work.

Fallows points out that,

Almost everything, good and bad, that has happened in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime was the subject of extensive pre-war discussion and analysis.

All this, and much more, was laid out in detail and in writing long before the U.S. government made the final decision to attack. Even now the collective efforts at planning by the CIA, the State Department, the Army and the Marine Corps, the United States Agency for International Development, and a wide variety of other groups inside and outside the government are underappreciated by the public.

The problems the United States has encountered are precisely the ones its own expert agencies warned against.

In other words, the departments and agencies had it right, yet our appointed, senior government leaders chose to look the other way concerning such prescient warnings and words of advice. The same can be said for Richard Clarke, a "lifer" in government who performed superbly over his years of service, a true American, and yet he too was treated like the crazy aunt locked in the cellar. Look at the actuary for Medicare who also had it right and yet his reward was to have his livelihood threatened. Or consider the several EPA officials who have reluctantly resigned over the years, mainly because they realized that their many years of work and dedication were being reversed under Bush's direction.

The point being that Americans should not blindly adopt the cynical, anti-government stance of this administration, particularly since it's the administration itself that is inept and incompetent -- not the government system as we've come to know it.