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Big Government Is Not a Goal, It Is a Tactic
And Now It Is a Republican Tactic...
[by Mac Johnson] 9/19/05

I used to believe that the Democrats sought to expand government because of a philosophical affinity for socialism and social spending. Thursday, after watching the President’s Grand Central Plan for the Redevelopment of the Gulf Coast, I realized that the old collectivist philosophies were just excuses for justifying and celebrating what they wanted to do anyway: take credit through taking control. The real motivation to spend was simply that they were the party in power and could therefore take credit for the spending. Every dollar spent ingratiated voters and advertised the party.

Likewise, the party out of power is outflanked and out-bribed by government spending, since the opposing party will receive credit for it. So they have a natural affinity for fiscal restraint and “caution.”

One of the more remarkable and transparent events of the last few years has been watching Democrats caution America about Government spending. One of the more depressing events I have ever witnessed is the growth of spending under George W. Bush. Government has grown faster under Bush than it ever did under Clinton. Republicans write the budget and it is huge. There is no bridge too useless, no road too isolated, no constituency too self-interested not be funded at an increased rate in every budget.

Republicans once fought to reduce the size of government and restore power -- which is manifested in money -- to the people that generated it. Now they fight for a community swimming pool or a fish hatchery or one more lane on a suburban interstate.

Why? Because they can now take credit for it. The bribe they hated when it worked for their opponents, they love when it works for them.

So the party in power has changed and yet Government grows. Affirmative action and quotas grow. The border is opened ever wider. Debt grows. Regulation grows. Productive areas are still taxed to subsidize failed areas. And it’s all in a quest for one more vote. It is the pandering of ambitious whores unburdened by principle.

And the Democrats only regret is that they can’t be the ones taking full credit for it all.

Teach a man to fish and you may feed him for a lifetime –but who needs that? Give a man a fish and he will know where to beg for his next meal. And since you can just tax and borrow all the fish you need, why not pass out “free” tartar sauce while you’re at it?

I am totally disgusted with our President’s “plan” for the Gulf Coast. Here’s a different plan: quit planning. Let people live according to what is efficient and naturally rewarding. Quit subsidizing life in a hole by the sea. Quit deciding what zones will be enterprising. Quit deciding what color of entrepreneurs should be successful. Quit being the new party of Big Government.

Be a damn Conservative or watch your supporters leave you standing alone at the ballot box.

The Republican Party is on the verge of collapse at the moment of its greatest power. Conservatives, more than I have ever seen in my life, are considering just walking away out of disgust. Bush has sold out his faithful to try and buy the votes of his enemies. He will end up with the support of neither. tOR

copyright 2005 Mac Johnson

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