Teachers and firefighters did what?

Paul Begala in Newsweek has an opinion piece in praise of government, the same institutions that the GOP is trying to destroy. Government has: put out Texas wildfires (in spite of slashed budgets); freed slaves; defeated Hitler; created the Interstate Highway System; put men on the moon; created the internet (under Al Gore's leadership); keeps our air clean, water drinkable, and food edible; and bailed out Wall Street. Not enough (or improperly applied) government got us into the mess where Wall Street needed a bailout; allowed the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to happen; and resulted in deaths at a West Virginia mine.

Teachers, firefighters, nurses, and cops did not cause the recession, massive layoffs, and a record deficit. Yet, they and government remain the villain. Why is the media distorting the story? Why are Democrats silent?

Later in the same edition Newsweek has a few more articles about government. If Washington isn't going to do it, state and local efforts will have to step in to do what they can. The highlighted efforts are:

John Fetterman who, as Mayor of Braddock, PA, made a big dent in the homicide rate.

Lauren Abramson took an idea from the Maori of New Zealand to create community circles in Baltimore. These bring together perpetrators of petty crimes with their victims. The goal is to discuss the incident and then create suitable restitution to restore the perpetrator to the community -- and keep the person out of jail.

Simon Hauger, a West Philadelphia High School math teacher started an after-school program in math and science. His program did so well that back in 2002 the kids created their own hybrid-electric car and won a competition that included teams from MIT and private corporations. Hauger has now started his own project-based learning school, in which students are given a major problem -- design a solar charging station -- and teachers lead students through interdisciplinary exercises to allow them to learn enough to tackle the problem.

Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney who went to help with Katrina cleanup and stayed. Their organization now leads the way in methods to speed house construction with lower costs.

Brooke Richie is a lawyer who trains teens in laws important to that age, such as how a homeless teen can find public housing, how a teen mother can get child care subsidies, how a teen can get a state ID to be able to work. The teens then set up in community centers and libraries to offer free advice to peers. These are things teens wouldn't talk to adults about and wouldn't be able to pay for the advice.

David Berwick, a doctor, came up with a program so that doctors have incentives to keep their patients well rather than get paid simply for doing lots of tests. The doctors got a nice bonus and Medicare saved a lot of money.

There were more articles about how to fix the country. I didn't bother reading it because no matter how valid the idea the GOP won't go for it.