Ellington

The NY Times editorializes: "The most striking thing about the new Republicanism is the way it embraces big government. The Bush administration has presided over a $400 billion expansion of Medicare entitlements. The party that once campaigned to abolish the Department of Education has produced an education plan that involves unprecedented federal involvement in local public schools. There is talk from the White House about a grandiose new moon shot. Budgetary watchdogs like the Heritage Foundation echo the Republican Senator John McCain's complaint about 'drunken sailor' spending." ...

"[W]hatever the reason, some formerly reliably Republican doctrines seem to have disappeared. Federalism is a case in point. After decades of extolling state governments as the best laboratory for new ideas, Republicans in Washington have been resisting state experimentation in areas ranging from pollution control to antispam legislation to prescription drugs." ...

"The Republicans' newly acquired activism, however, has very clear limits. The modern party's key allegiance is to corporate America, and its tolerance for intrusive federal government ends when big business is involved. If there is a consistent center to the domestic philosophy of the current administration, it is the idea that business is best left alone." ...

"Republicans have always enjoyed their reputation as the champions of business. The difference now is that they no longer couple their business-friendly attitudes with tight-fistedness. Discretionary spending has jumped 27 percent in the last two years; budget hawks complain Congressional pork is up more than 40 percent." ...

"The two halves of Republican policy no longer fit together. A political majority that believes in big government for people, and little or no government for corporations, has produced an unsustainable fiscal policy that combines spending on social programs with pork and tax cuts for the rich. " ...

"This, it appears, is what compassionate conservatism really means. The conservative part is a stern and sometimes intrusive government to regulate the citizenry, but with a hands-off attitude toward business. The compassionate end involves some large federal programs combined with unending sympathy for the demands of special interests. If only it all added up."

Previous Comments

ID

136903

Comment

Anyone more knowledgeable than me know how this happened to the republican party? The whole notion of the democrats as the 'tax and spend' party has really been turned on its head in the past few years, and I still can't quite wrap my head around the amount of money the Bush administration is spending, and the deficits they are creating. How'd we get here?

Author

kate

Date

2004-01-02T16:57:39-06:00

ID

136904

Comment

kate, yes, i'm still around - just busy even during this holiday season (hope you had a merry christmas and a happy new year !). to answer your question "how this happened to the republican party?" i'll paraphrase what i said in another (much earlier) post - it's tax and spend pork if its a program you don't like, but an investment in our future if its a program you do like!!

Author

Philip

Date

2004-01-02T17:42:33-06:00