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Comment by skrtskrt | Hacker News Reader

In the US, the only time the average person interacts with the government (that they notice, so not like roads an air traffic control) is filing taxes and going to the DMV which are both terrible experiences in the US. This shapes everyone's view of what the government is capable of.

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I think you are oversimplifying things. People interact with government services when using water at home. They interact with government services through the local k-12 school system; through the Post Office; and they know roads are largely funded with taxes. People interact with government far more than as you describe and attributing a general attitude about government to the two things you mentioned does not seem reasonable to me. Do you have good reasons for the belief you have other than a general perception? It’s ok if not and there’s nothing wrong with holding a pet theory without studies to back it up.

Not with a government office or employee that is not part of utilities though.

The know the roads are but because it is a physical infrastructure they don't pay attention.

Look at the Post Office issues recently, from your comment.

> People interact with government far more than as you describe and attributing a general attitude about government to the two things you mentioned does not seem reasonable to me.

Welcome to US politics.

If this were on almost any other thread, especially one focusing on the particular topic, the K-12 system would be shit on too along with the roads and post office. The only one of those that arguably reliably beats private services with similar level of funding would be water utilities, and that's partially because water rights in the Western US are a legal quagmire.

You missed the point that was made. The point wasn’t that government is efficient or good but that the experiences with the IRS and DMV don’t account for the sentiment toward government services in the country. The person I responded made a claim that interactions with these two services explain the attitudes people have toward government. I think that is an overly simplistic explanation.

I think you're probably correct. I've had better experience with the IRS and DMV than I have had with most the rest of the government.

I've used non-terrible DMV in two states. The key is to not underfund them so that offices are sporadically available and serving an excessively large population.

What states?

When I went to the CA DMV to get my real id, the person helping me was very pleasant and nice. I told her this was in remarkable contrast to my usual DMV experience, and she told me “we’re the new generation.”

I've never had a problem with the Michigan Secretary of State (which handles DMV stuff here).

There's probably some locations that are chronically busy, but I've had the luck to not use them.

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