Whatever the failings of political leadership on both sides of the aisle, there’s still a residual belief in the validity of government on the Democratic side that simply does not exist on the Republican side. In times like this, where the effects of FIRE sector lobbying doesn’t come into play, you see that difference in the proper role of government shine through. In order for this to become definitive, however, all government programs have to show the same diligence and dedication. One program like HAMP can wipe out years of proper actions in organizations like FEMA.

The hidden camera moment of this election cycle comes not from the long-awaited Michelle Obama Whitey tape, but from a fundraiser for the Republican nominee.

Mother Jones’ David Corn has obtained video – catnip for 24-hour news networks – of Romney speaking at a gathering of high-dollar donors, wherein he gave his strategy for the election. In so doing, he basically describe everyone disinclined to vote for him as a moocher living off the government dole.

Instead of setting clear limits, or just banning multiple types of antibiotics for use in livestock (as this legislation from Louise Slaughter would do), the FDA just prescribed “voluntary limits.” Why? Because they’ve been trying to ban antibiotics in livestock since 1977. And agribusiness along with pharmaceutical companies lobby against it, and it doesn’t happen. So we’re reduced to begging drugmakers to stop facilitating the fact that the hamburger on our plates is filled with penicillin and tetracycline.

I wrote back in January about an FCC proposed rule that would force local TV stations to put the results of the political ad spending on their airwaves online, rather than in an obscure filing room at the station that few people ever see. This would increase the transparency of political spending, which now relies on just a few reports by independent watchdogs and self-reporting from campaigns. Under this new standard, anyone could look up on the Internet the mass of ad spending. It looks like the FCC will do this.

The Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision left open the ability of Congress to pass disclosure rules regarding campaign contributions. Now a ruling in a Federal Election Commission case would force some level of disclosure of those who fund campaign ads.

I don’t care what you think about the health care law, a structure of government with a judicial review that feels free to parse legislation line by line and make what amount to ideological pronouncements on what can go forward and what cannot sounds a death rattle for progressive governance over time.

One interesting side product of these campaign controversies is that they have enabled public awareness of a variety of issues in ways that the Administration’s messaging operation never seemed to master.

President Obama has asked Congress to provide him with the authority to consolidate multiple federal agencies, the next step on a plan announced earlier in the year to reconstitute the Commerce Department and several other agencies as a trade and economic competitiveness department.

What we learn from this polling is that when you spend almost three years with unemployment at an elevated level, the public tends to get the message that government isn’t able to help alleviate the problem.

It may look fine from reading balance sheets in a conference room at the Treasury Department, but at the ground level, the awfulness of the HAMP program, and what it’s doing to American conceptions of their government, really hits you.