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What Happens When Liberals Are Disappointed In Government?

By Theresa Camoriano

Two of Louisville’s leading liberals have been lamenting the failures of government this past week.  Bob Hill described an abuse of power by Child Protective Services, which pursued the wrong family after an allegation of child abuse, despite proof that the family wasn’t even in Louisville when the reported child abuse took place.  Nevertheless, Child Protective Services even went so far as to interrogate the children at school, without their parents’ knowledge or permission, and the school, which apparently was intimidated by Child Protective Services, complied and did not even tell the parents that the children had been interrogated.  Nor did anyone tell the children that they had the right to refuse to answer questions.  David Hawpe also lamented various insider dealings that have been taking place in Kentucky government, with relatives of politically-connected people getting business from the government or selling property to the government and otherwise profiting from their connections, thus undermining the public’s trust in government.  It is good that these liberal folks are recognizing the facts, but it is probably too much to hope that they will draw the right conclusions from them.

As Lord Action said long ago, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The incidents cited by Bob Hill and David Hawpe are merely the tip of the iceberg.  The instances of Kentuckians profiting from their insider positions are mirrored all over the country, from Senator Harry Reid’s land deals, to profitable lobbying jobs for the relatives of Washington politicians, to the appointment of judges who will toe the party line instead of upholding the law.   And other abuses of government power are rampant, from people being arrested for “driving while black” to prosecutors coaching children to make false allegations of sexual abuse, to regulators who accept gifts for looking the other way, and much more.  So what’s a government-loving liberal to do? 

Could they at least support laws that limit government power in order to limit the opportunity for abuse?  For example, shouldn’t Child Protective Services be required to show probable cause of serious bodily harm to the children and give parents notice before interrogating the children?  Shouldn’t parents be presumed innocent?  And shouldn’t there be a mechanism for holding people within these agencies accountable for their abuse of power? 

After recognizing the serious abuses of government power all around them, would it be possible for liberals to recognize that giving government substantially more power would be very likely to make matters substantially worse?  Well, I can dream, can’t I?

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