In The Revolt of the Public, he writes,
The rhetoric of democratic politics seems to have gotten out of whack with the reality of what democratic governments can achieve.
Actually, his book has many quotable soundbites, but this one is very central to his main theme. The public has become more informed about the failures of government, but politicians are not encouraging people to lower their expectations. On the contrary, the competitive equilibrium seems to lead toward politicians making ever more extravagant promises.
Nor does there seem any lowering of expectations on the part of the public, but even more extravagant claims and desires, but is this rejection of what they don’t want to hear or quadrupling down in hopes of a quarter?
Or perhaps treatment of it like the farce it is.
Maybe the promises and the refutation travel faster and they haven’t adjusted down the promises. I keep coming back to cops who keep doing these obvious brutality infractions even though they intellectually know the cameras are out their, but I guess their habits haven’t caught up yet.
Time will tell.
If by “expectation” we mean what the public wants to see government deliver, I think AK is right that they are high. If by “expectation” we mean what the public believes government will actually deliver, then I think expectation are now unrelasitically *low*.
After a generation, will the gap between the two kinds of expectation remain so wide? Today we see furious derision directed at government promises, in the future I hpe to see eye-rolling and shrugs.