It seems that modern-era conservatives still think they can make their stripes by appeal to some notion of 'small government'.
AS and Douthat, Ross exchange views, just now.
Can anyone remember who the last Republican President was who actually shrank the size of the federal government? Eisenhower? I'd have to run the figures, but didn't he have that big tax-and-spend to build cars and roads (which today's conservatives now want to Pigovian tax, because of pollution and congestion - they say). How's that for a long-view of conservatism - tax 'em to start and tax 'em to finish. Oh, and for the cherry on top, the national road system was ... wait for it ... conceived as part of the National Defense!
"Small government" Republicanism is just a calling card on history, not history.
What about that calling card, anyway? 'Small government' is still a 'political philosophy', right? Yeah, but so is 'utopia'. Ross explains why - passing out the public's money can make you popular. So, inveighing people to be 'small government' is like telling politicians they have to fast when the Chuck Wagon goes by. Like that is going to happen.
Grounded and good liberals and citizens inveigh, instead, against government waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency, while leaving the hobbled notions of 'small government' to the dreamers.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Small Government Fantasists
