Biden Submerged - The Perils of Invisible Government

[PatSeg]

Perils of Invisible Government -The American Rescue Plan is huge and yet little noticed.

More than a decade ago, the political scientist Suzanne Mettler coined the phrase “the submerged state” to describe a core feature of modern American government: Many people don’t realize when they are benefiting from a government program.

“Americans often fail to recognize government’s role in society, even if they have experienced it in their own lives,” Mettler wrote. “That is because so much of what government does today is largely invisible.”

Her main examples were tax breaks, including those that help people buy homes, pay for medical care and save for retirement. The concept also included programs so complex or removed from everyday life that many people did not understand them, like federal subsidies for local governments.

Mettler’s thesis is both a defense of government’s role and a criticism of the modern Democratic Party’s preference for technocratically elegant and often invisible policies. It wasn’t always this way, she points out. Social Security, Medicare and the G.I. Bill — as well as New Deal parks, roads and bridges, many with signs marking them as federal projects — helped popularize government action because they were so obvious. If voters don’t know what the government is doing to improve their lives, how can they be expected to be in favor of it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/briefing/biden-invisible-government-american-rescue-plan.html

If Biden’s Plan Is Like a ‘New Deal,’ Why Don’t Voters Care?

Unlike the New Deal, however, this $1.9 trillion federal investment in American communities has barely registered with voters. Rather than a trophy for Mr. Biden and his party, the program has become a case study in how easily voters can overlook even a lavishly funded government initiative delivering benefits close to home.

Mr. Biden’s popularity has declined in polls over the past year, and voters are giving him less credit for the country’s economic recovery than his advisers had anticipated. In Virginia, Democrats got shellacked in the 2021 off-year elections amid the country’s halting emergence from the depths of the pandemic.

Ambivalence among voters stems partly from the fact that many of the projects being funded are, for now, invisible.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/us/politics/biden-pandemic-relief-democrats.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220421&instance_id=59070&nl=the-morning

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

1. All this means is...

the MSM is hitting their objectives.

[PatSeg]

2. Sadly true

Successful government programs just don't make great headlines. Not enough controversy.

[OhioTim]

3. I My State

If we have a Republican governor, there will be a big sign at every worksite with his name. If we have a Democrat, there is probably a sign but no name giving the governor credit. Happens all the time.

Biden needs to have people in every state ready to talk to the media and put out press releases on every single project from the infrastructure bill. And they need big signs, so that Republicans don't take credit (and they do).

[PatSeg]

4. That is so true

Plus we have republican senators and representatives who go home and take credit for a bill they voted against. Republicans don't govern or legislate, but take credit for the accomplishments of those who do. They're always campaigning, but rarely actually working. Hard to believe they get paid to do this.