I bet you heard about the problem with the shuttle Endeavor's thermal tiles and that after an extensive analysis, NASA decided that the best course was to leave the tiles alone - that they would be ok. Ever hear what happened to the shuttle? Nothing. It landed safely on August 21.
It occurs to me that despite mistakes of the past, government does learn. Case in point - the shuttle. Following the tragedy with the space shuttle Columbia last year, NASA underwent a major re-haul in how they handle things when concerns about safety are raised. They changed their culture such that when a problem came up again, everybody had a voice - and the best course was chosen.
Think about other recent government mistakes...Hurricane Katrina - has any recent mistake been worse? The government still makes mistakes in the wake of Katrina - but at least some people were taking the threat of Hurricane Dean seriously. Its still not good enough - but government does learn.
The tragedy with the miners in Utah - how did government do there? Not very well. In the last 7 years there have been 8 major mine disasters. Seems like nobody in government is learning much there.
The point is - at least government has the capacity to learn...and that capacity makes it better than any alternative. Good government learns fast - that's when it really has the ability to help its people.
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