I don’t look for much to come out of government ownership as long as we have Democrats and Republicans.

Hubbard’s quip expresses a deep skepticism about the practical benefits of “government ownership” (public ownership of utilities, railroads, or other industries) when the machinery of government is run through partisan competition. The line implies that, whatever the theoretical merits of public ownership, its outcomes will be compromised by party incentives—patronage, short-term electoral calculation, and alternating control—rather than guided by consistent public-interest administration. In effect, Hubbard shifts the critique from the economic model to the political system: the problem is not merely whether the state owns something, but whether partisan governance can manage it competently and fairly.