Two commentaries caught my

attention recently: one by Washington Post political reporter David Broder,

the other by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator, quoted

in the Congressional Record.

They got me to thinking about

the United States of America, its federal government, and how differently

some of us view it. You may have seen Sinclair's remarks, widely circulated

on-line, in defense of Canada's neighbor to the south that would be us

as being "the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people

on all the earth."

He credits us, correctly, with

lifting Europe and Japan out of the wreckage of a war we didn't start

and didn't ask for, and claims that they have been ungrateful. We propped

up France's economy, he says, and received insults for it. And although

Americans have raced to the scene of disasters worldwide with tools, money

and willing hands, he says outside help was never offered to America,

not even after the San Francisco earthquake.

When 59 American communities

were ravaged by tornadoes last spring, nobody else cared, according to

Sinclair.

I'm not at all sure he is right.

Not expecting to need them, I did not keep news reports of the earthquake

or other U.S. disasters, but I am positive I read that foreign governments

offered or sent aid. I definitely remember thinking how odd it was to

be on the receiving end when hurricane Hugo wiped much of southern Florida

off the map, although I confess I don't recall the source of aid.

And no perceptive traveler

can fail to be touched by the expressions of gratitude that literally

dot the landscape of England, Belgium and the Netherlands, crediting the

United States with coming to their aid at great sacrifice to herself during

WWII. Marker after marker uses words like, "In undying gratitude..."

and "We will never forget..."

Most French people like most

American people when treated as friends and not with the hostility we

seem to reserve for the French. Even Germans, while less given to public

expressions, appreciate what we did with the Marshall Plan. What conquering

nation in history ever gave so much aid to rebuild a defeated enemy?

I may be stretching an analogy

here, but what if Evander Holyfield's home burned down? Is it likely that

the citizens of Fayette County would initiate a furniture drive or take

up a collection to help him rebuild? I don't think so. Holyfield is seen

as having greater resources than most of his neighbors and perfectly capable

of solving his own problems, no matter how devastating.

Now as to that favorite target

of conservatives, the federal government: Americans tend to be as ungrateful

toward their own government as writers like Sinclair claim other nations

have been. I grew up understanding several principles about government:

That it existed to do for

the people what the people cannot do for themselves;

That Government R Us;

And that we ought to pay taxes

ungrudgingly, whether or not we get what we consider our fair share back.

It's very nice to talk of the private sector and the faith community stepping

in to provide for the general populace, but it's not realistic. Imagine,

for example, General Motors saying, "Since we earn our profits by

building cars, and cars need roads to run on, we'll be glad to build an

interstate highway system."

Or the two churches with the

most extensive school systems in the country Catholics and Missouri Synod

Lutherans saying, "Why, of course we'll expand our facilities to

make an equal and nondenominational education available to every American

child. Just make available to us the school taxes they used to pay to

local government."

Or nonprofits to pool their

resources to fund space exploration or Medicare or medical research. I

grant you I'm biased to favor federal spending on research because of

one huge incident in our lives, our experience with the National Institutes

of Health when our teen-age daughter was diagnosed with Wing's sarcoma.

She did not survive.

Only now, a quarter century

later, has significant progress begun saving lives from that rare cancer.

But once she was accepted into their program, from the moment we got her

to Bethesda, the staggering expenses of her part in the study were covered

in full. And believe me, she was never merely a laboratory case or a serial

number. The care she received went far beyond caring.

Broder, in a column appearing

in the AJC two weeks ago, said that when the noted think-tank Brookings

Institution charged historians and political scientists with listing major

government successes since mid-century, three of the top five were in

the area of civil rights: expanding voting rights, reducing employment

discrimination and promoting equal access to public accommodations.

First on the list was the Marshall

Plan and fourth was reducing disease through immunization programs and

the development of the NIH.

Others include winning the

Cold War, environmental protection, Medicare and welfare reform. I won't

reprise the whole list, but highway and air safety are on there, as well

as food, water and pharmaceutical safeguards.

No, government does not do

it well or efficiently every time; neither does the private sector (see

Tires, Firestone). But government tackles "some of the most important

and difficult challenges facing this society and scores some notable successes,"

Broder says. "We can celebrate some of the governmental successes

we are far too prone to take for granted."

If you want to feel proud of

your country, look up www.brook.edu and click on "Government's

50 Greatest Endeavors."

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