COLUMN LEFT : Our Middle Class Needs Nurturing : The people want not more or less government, but one that is responsive to them.

For years, political parties have been defined by how they viewed the role of government. Republicans were for less. Democrats were for more. Now, the paradigm has changed. Americans don’t want more government, or less government. Americans want government on their side.

This is shorthand for government that understands day-to-day lives and provides the tools that Americans need to prosper. “Government on our side” is a desperate appeal from the middle class, from people who feel they’re slipping and won’t be in the middle class much longer. It is a hearkening to the role government once played in helping people get to the middle class and stay there. And it is a call for us Democrats to embrace our historic role as guardians of the middle class.

The Reagan Revolution may have paved the way for just that with its watchwords, “get government off our backs.” Through deregulation, Reagan ostensibly got government off the backs of business. And through the 1981 tax cut, Reagan told middle-class voters that social programs--especially welfare--would no longer be financed on the backs of average citizens.

The results of these policies, however, have been disastrous for the middle class. Wholesale deregulation has meant that savers may soon be investing in their mattresses rather than in banks. And, families are paying many times over for a tax cut that fueled a deficit, raised interest rates and eventually slowed our economy into a recession.

Americans understand that we live in a complex, competitive global economy. That’s exactly why they need a user-friendly government. By labeling government the problem, the Reagan-Bush years only increased people’s sense of alienation. If government isn’t on my side, they said, and the world is complex and competitive, then how will I go it alone?

Much too late in the presidential game of 1988, we Democrats began to understand this yearning among Americans for a “government on our side.” But it is not too late now to listen to Americans and to bring a coherent message and practical programs to the 1992 elections.

Government on our side means greater responsiveness to citizens. Professional polling--and any supermarket conversation--will tell you that Americans oppose high income taxes. Since they don’t trust that government is on their side, they can’t imagine how their money will be well spent. When the day comes that people believe government is back to being on their side, they may reconsider specific taxes for specific results.

What Americans want is policies that will help them in their lives.

They want regulation of the financial banking system to protect their pocketbooks and their checkbooks.

They want insurance systems that are sound and affordable, with benefits that reflect the dollars they pay out. They want better oversight of insurance rates, with power to question them.

They want quality education for their kids. With the right incentives they would be willing to pay for it and save for it. “Education IRAs” and national service in trade for college loan forgiveness both have merit.

They want good housing through lower home mortgage rates.

And of course, Americans want jobs and job security so that they can pay as they go for the things they want. Tax relief for the middle class would be a good start. So would the aggressive trade strategies needed to protect jobs.

Americans do not want something for nothing. But they don’t want nothing for all of the something they put into the system.

“Government on our side” should be the test for everything Democrats propose. In some cases, like the right to choose abortion, it means government out of our personal lives. In other cases, like health insurance, it means government helping to ensure reasonable cost, universal availability and good service.

It does not mean ignoring or holding back the civil-rights agenda of Americans who have historically been left behind. It does mean recognizing that all Americans right now feel left behind. Politicians must, first and foremost, address this pervasive alienation.

The era of more government or less government is over. Government of, by and for the people is back. The challenge to Democrats is to be what Democrats have been: on our side.