What kind of Government do we deserve?

District 11 Candidate for Supervisor Randall Knox.
Photo by Luke Thomas

By Randall Knox, special to Fog City Journal

April 30, 2008

The saying goes that we get the government we deserve, and our dissatisfaction with government is one of life’s constants. Whether it’s the President, the Congress, the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, or anyone else on the endless list of too-often ineffectual and inattentive elected officials, we almost seem to enjoy griping about how screwed up things are.

I know I do.

Maybe we deserve it. Half the people who are eligible to vote aren’t registered, and registered voters don’t bother to vote half the time. The same people who lie to get out of jury duty, grumble if a guilty person gets acquitted. We try to stay knowledgeable about what’s going on, but mostly we want government to leave us alone. We want clean, safe streets, good schools, and reliable public services, but we’ve got stuff to do.

I’ve lived in District 11 for 20 years, and I’m thinking about running for the Board of Supervisors. I’m a progressive (we used to be called “liberals”), but I understand the need for thoughtful and pragmatic legislation. I’ve practiced law for 30 years (25 in San Francisco), and I’m a former Assistant District Attorney, and I’ve seen how making and enforcing laws affects all of us. Every federal, state or local law in some way signifies an issue we consider important for government to control, a determination that an interest needs to be protected, or that conduct needs to be punished.

For the last four years I’ve served as a Commissioner on the Board of Appeals for the City and County of San Francisco, arbitrating building, planning and permit disputes. San Francisco’s building, planning and permit codes aren’t the grandest of laws, but they shape how San Francisco is evolving.

Laws work best when they serve the broadest public interest, protect the most vulnerable, and provide an equal opportunity for everyone to make a better life. As San Franciscans, we pride ourselves on these progressive values. Yet, we are not immune to bad government.

Sometimes we’re so preoccupied with the tasks of daily life that it’s difficult to face the unpleasant reality that we have allowed our elected officials to misuse their power, deliberately misleading us with lies. We don’t want to believe we’re so gullible that politicians can dissemble, avoid accountability, and manipulate the system, and yet they still get reelected.

This isn’t new, but it is surprising that it still happens so much. Politicians have always made promises they never intended to keep, but we’ve come to allow marketing and public relations to control who gets elected. Money drives political campaigns more than ever, and campaign-spending limits are barely speed bumps on the financial superhighway of modern politics. Airtime and mailings cost money, so the best campaigners are the ones who excel at raising funds and crafting a marketable public image.

The problem is, the skills required for successful campaigning are different from the skills needed for successful governing. We want the people who provide us with services to be smart, honest, and hardworking… whether it’s the doctor, the mechanic, or the guy or lady at the store. And we expect more from the people in charge. When we pay taxes, we hope the people in government will use good judgment, tell us the truth (even when it’s unpopular), and make the tough calls as best they can.

Maybe it’s always been this way, but these days it appears that instead of valuing ideas on the allocation and management of our limited resources, we fall for catchy slogans about hot-button issues. If you tell me you want to slash cash payments for general assistance, to reduce the number of people on the rolls, or because you think people are spending the money on drugs, you may or may not get my support. But don’t tell me your plan will get people off the streets, because it won’t. Call it, Pretend To Care Not Cash, so it’s clear what you’re really doing. Don’t urinate on my shoes and tell me it’s raining.

At times it seems like our elected officials put more effort into the packaging than the program, and we end up with catchphrases like “Just Say No,” “Zero Tolerance,” and “No Child Left Behind.” Maybe it’s because politicians think image is more important than ideas to get reelected. Let’s hope it’s not because they think that we are either too stupid or too complacent to notice. Either way, we should punish those who display contempt for our collective intelligence and throw those particular bums out.

This is not as easy as it sounds (and it doesn’t sound that easy). Adlai Stevenson once saw a supporter holding a sign that called him “The Candidate of the Thinking American,” and said, “Now I know we’ve lost.” It appears, though, that the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign may be signifying a move away from pandering. Obama, at least, doesn’t speak down to people, which some people from Harvard Law Review might find moderately difficult. We have greater access to information than ever before, and we seem to have a greater level of awareness about things in general. If this means a shift in what we expect of ourselves, our government, and the people who run it, there may be hope yet.

This would be my first time to run for elected office. I don’t look forward to having to ask people for money so I can afford to tell other people why they should vote for me. I would like a campaign based on a discourse of ideas, with a minimum of acrimony or artifice. If smart, hardworking, truthful campaigns can succeed, we’ll have more smart hardworking, truthful public officials. That’s my hope.

We get the government we deserve, and we deserve better.

FCJ Editor

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