【每日德鲁克】2026年5月10日

10 May

Sickness of Government

Our love affair with government is over, although we keep the old mistress around.

Rarely has there been a more torrid political love affair than that between government and the generations that reached adulthood between 1918 and 1960. Anything anyone felt needed doing during this period was to be turned over to government—and this, everyone seemed to believe, made sure that the job was already done.

But now our attitudes are in transition. We are rapidly moving to doubt and distrust of government. We still, if only out of habit, turn social tasks over to government. We still revise unsuccessful programs over and over again, and assert that nothing is wrong with them that a change in procedures will not cure. But we no longer believe these promises when we reform a bungled program for the third time. We no longer expect results from government.

Who, for instance, believes anymore that changes in the foreign aid program of the United States (or of the United Nations) will really produce rapid worldwide development? What was a torrid romance between the people and government for so very long has now become a tired, middle-aged liaison that we do not know how to break off but that only becomes exacerbated by being dragged out.

5月10日

政府的病症

我们与政府的热恋已经结束，尽管我们仍然保留着这段旧关系。

在1918年至1960年间成长的一代人与政府之间，很少有比这更炽热的政治“恋情”。在这一时期，凡是人们认为需要完成的事情，都会交给政府——而且大家似乎都相信，这就意味着事情已经完成。

但如今我们的态度正在发生转变。我们正在迅速走向对政府的怀疑与不信任。我们仍然出于习惯，把社会事务交给政府；我们仍然一遍又一遍地修改那些失败的项目，并声称只需改变程序即可解决问题。但当我们第三次修补一个失败项目时，我们已不再相信这些说法。我们也不再期待政府能够带来成果。

例如，如今还有谁相信，美国（或联合国）的对外援助项目调整，真的能够带来全球范围内的快速发展？曾经持续多年的政府与公众之间的炽热关系，如今已变成一段疲惫的中年关系，我们不知道该如何结束，却在拖延中变得更加恶化。