Trust People

Joe Biden, the marginally better Democrat candidate for president than the frontrunners, has said something we support whole-heartedly.

Sen. Joe Biden said in an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader yesterday that too many Democrats, including the frontrunners for the presidential nomination, do not have faith in the American people.

“We’ve got to trust the American people more,” Biden said.

“I think they’ve really lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them,” he said of his leading rivals.

When he asks groups of Democrats if they think the American people are stupid because they elected George W. Bush twice, most respond that, yes, they do, he said. He said he thinks that attitude is a real problem for the Democrats, who fail to understand how smart and pragmatic the American people really are.

Absolutely! And how do we trust people more? Well, we certainly don't mandate that they volunteer, as another presidential candidate suggests; we assume they have the goodness in their heart to do this on their own. We let them manage their Social Security money in the way they see best, whether that's a public or a private investment solution. We assume that people in local communities know more about managing their own affairs than people in far off places do. If people fail once, well, that happens, and if they fail over and over and over then maybe there's a place for government to step in.

But you're right, Joe. Step one is to trust Real People - instead of government. If a leading candidate makes that argument, and does so passionately, I don't see how that candidates can fail next year.