Good for something government

Krugman is worth reading today on the lessons of the BP leak in the Gulf. This is the quote of the day:

Yet antigovernment ideology remains all too prevalent, despite the havoc it has wrought. In fact, it has been making a comeback with the rise of the Tea Party movement. If there’s any silver lining to the disaster in the gulf, it is that it may serve as a wake-up call, a reminder that we need politicians who believe in good government, because there are some jobs only the government can do.

I've been trying to drive this point home to my tea party readers at DetNews for a long time now. Bitching about government "theft" of "their money" fails to recognize the benefits of the spending. Not like there's no money wasted or that there aren't any stupid laws or regulations, but to condemn the whole entity on the basis of its flaws is kind of like saying you should ban all motorized transportation because they break down sometimes.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]