“Transformational” thrills Democratic liberals as much as it alarms Republican conservatives, so both ends of the ideological spectrum embrace the term. It sounds right to many commentators since the new President’s proposals to build infrastructure, expand education and help struggling families buck the tide of the only political era they’ve known.
But a longer view of the relationship between Americans and their government suggests a subtler reality.
Bracing as the size and scope of the new President’s program is, much of it would build on federal initiatives that have evolved over…
