Washington Monthly - September/October 2019 - 118

holistic, and of higher quality than the Act, even though they needed insurance. you're sorry, promise to do better, and
private sector. Veterans routinely say After the ACA passed, Republicans be- compensate users for their losses.
that they're very satisfied with the care came more likely than Democrats to go
Lerman shows that these tactics would
they receive.
without health insurance, forgoing the work in the public sector as well. She cites
But in 2012, the Koch brothers began opportunity to sign up through a govern- the findings of her own survey experirunning an aggressive campaign to tar ment exchange. Similarly, some parents ments, in which respondents report being
the VA system and undermine faith in don't send their kids to public schools "much more sanguine about errors when
government-run health care. They didn't because they believe private schools are elites take responsibility" for mistakes,
have to work that hard. A gullible main- better. Lerman argues that this opting- but "much less so when elite messaging is
stream press picked up on a few cherry- out has a reinforcing effect. Public servic- defensive." Had the Obama administrapicked and unrepresentative examples of es are starved of the resources necessary tion been less defensive and more proaclong wait times to confirm the stereotype to support populations that require more tive during the initial healthcare.gov rollthat government can't do anything right. help. As a result, these services struggle out, perhaps the launch hiccups might not
Before these stories, the VA was one of the to perform as well.
have been quite so disastrous.
federal government's most popular agenBut perhaps more importantly, by optThe author also points to the imporcies. But in 2017, it was dead last in a Pew ing out, people foreclose possibilities tant role political leaders have in supportsurvey-ranked less favorably than even
for seeing government's many upsides. ing public services, rather than constantly
the IRS.
Lerman shows that when individuals get denigrating them as wasteful and ineffiLerman's research shows that when re- "what they consider to be valuable and cient. To really improve faith in the govspondents are given information about well-administered public benefits, their ernment, politicians will need to sing a
garbage collection, emergency medical attitudes toward public programs im- more positive tune. But herein lies the big
services, and prisons and told that the
prove." In particular, when Republicans obstacle. To fully fix this problem, it will
services are of high quality, they are con- turn sixty-five and start receiving Medi- take not only Democrats but also some
siderably more likely to conclude that the care, they become much more supportive Republicans to stand up for the value of
services are provided privately. When of the program. (Democrats are support- government programs. Given how much
they are told about the same services but ive regardless of their age.) People who the GOP's messaging is built around antitold they are of low quality, they are more
benefited from the ACA also became more government rhetoric, this seems unlikely
likely to conclude that they are provided supportive of it. But those who opted out to happen anytime soon.
publicly.
became less supportive.
But even if Republicans don't change
Thus, government programs and their
their position, Democrats don't have to resupporters today face a dual challenge
n theory, then, the path to rebuild- peat myths of private-sector efficiency and
in winning public opinion. Not only do
ing faith in government is straight- public-sector inefficiency. Instead, they
they have to deliver high-quality ser- forward: get people to sign up, provide could advertise the savings government
vices. They also have to convince peo- excellent service, and then make sure services deliver through economies of scale.
ple that those high-quality services- people know they're getting a govern- They must also, of course, work to make
like Medicare-are, in fact, provided by ment benefit. But in practice, this isn't sure that government programs function
the government.
as easy. It requires overcoming many well. If the crisis of public reputation was
Unfortunately, misperceptions about citizens' hard-to-change expectations largely made by anti-government forces'
what the government provides are wide- about the inferiority of public programs- aggressive storytelling, perhaps it can be
spread. Lerman cites the important work expectations that Lerman shows shape unmade by better storytelling on behalf of
of political scientist Suzanne Mettler, who
people's decisions, political preferences, a government that solves public problems
has found that more than half of Ameri- and sheer acceptance of facts. "Even in the in ways that the private sector simply can't.
cans (56.5 percent) say they have not used
Finally, Democrats must never stop reface of government successes," explains Lea public social program. Most are mistak- rman, "citizens' beliefs about the low qual- minding people that popular public proen. As Mettler documents, 44 percent of ity of government are difficult to change."
grams are, in fact, public. That means
people who received Social Security and
Still, it's not hopeless. Lerman argues somebody needs to keep telling that cra40 percent of people who used Medicare that investments in branding could go a zy protestor that government is not going
said they "have never used a government long way. (Governments do remarkably to take over his Medicare. Government is
social program." The fact that they are ei- little branding.) So could investing in cri- his Medicare.
ther unaware or unwilling to admit that sis management, since mistakes are inevithey had is remarkable.
table in any complicated enterprise. In the Lee Drutman is a senior fellow in the New
Of course, some people do willingly corporate sector, the standard crisis man- America Political Reform Program and the auopt out of public services. Many conser- agement advice abides by the four Rs- thor of the forthcoming book Breaking the
vatives, for example, refused to sign up
responsibility, regret, reform, and resti- Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty
for health care under the Affordable Care tution. In other words: accept fault, say Democracy in America.

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September/October 2019
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