John B. Breaux: “I think a great part of that debate was over the proper and legitimate role of Government as it affects the individual…”

“I think a great part of that debate was over the proper and legitimate role of Government as it affects the individual lives of the citizens of this country. Many traditional Democrats--not all, but many--have taken the view that the proper role of Government is to try to solve everybody's problem all of the time, and that necessarily meant that many of those suggestions were coming from Washington as to what those solutions should be. Many, not all, Republicans took the view that the role of Government was to get out of the way and that Government really had no role in helping people solve their problems, but that it was more of a survival of the fittest type of attitude that should be the predominant one by which we govern ourselves. I think both of those roles are not what the American people were talking about when they went to the polls on November 8. Many self-styled new Democrats take the view that the legitimate and proper role of Government is to help equip people to solve their own problems.”