Why Conservatives Can't Govern, from Washington Monthly by way of Arts & Letters Daily.
If government is necessary, bad government, at least for conservatives, is inevitable, and conservatives have been exceptionally good at showing just how bad it can be. Hence the truth revealed by the Bush years: Bad government--indeed, bloated, inefficient, corrupt, and unfair government--is the only kind of conservative government there is. Conservatives cannot govern well for the same reason that vegetarians cannot prepare a world-class boeuf bourguignon: If you believe that what you are called upon to do is wrong, you are not likely to do it very well.
Note to Pablo: I responded to your comment below, but Enetation refuses to update the number of comments.
1 comment:
pablo @ 3:46PM | 2006-07-10| permalink
It makes you wonder what Libertarians would be like if they ever won anything....
It's clearly much easier to be the opposition party. You don't have to justify your track record in the last few years. You stand or fall based almost entirely on your rhetoric.
As the opposition party, Republicans were the party of small government, reducing everyone's dependence on government and pork, and opposition to "legislating from the bench."
Now as the opposition party, Democrats get to play the part of the cautious statesmen. They get to credit themselves for NOT bloating the constitution with ammendments targeted at despised minorities - flag burners and homosexuals.
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Felix @ 3:32PM | 2006-07-12| permalink
I recall at least one state-level election in Texas in which the Libertarian candidate promised to abolish the office if he were elected to it. Unfortunately, he's a rarity among politicians.
There is some truth to what you say. Certainly Republicans have made a lot of noise with their pitiful cries of being oppressed by the evil Liberal Elitist conspiracy. What's amusing is that they still whine about being the victims of "liberal elitists", and seek to blame all the nation's ills on a political opposition that can't even get its bills heard in committee. A completely powerless scapegoat is a very useful thing indeed.
The biggest logical flaw with the argument proposed by the article is that the Republican Party doesn't really believe its own propaganda about wanting small government and believing big government to be evil. Like the proposed amendments you mentioned, which are dutifully trotted out and waved overheard with well-rehearsed cries of outrage just before every election, it's nothing but programmed hoo-haw to lure the rubes to the voting booths so that the Republican head honchos can keep enriching themselves with corporate bribes and governmental perks.
Unfortunately, it's possible that they may succeed in stirring up enough interest on the part of the religious fundies that some such effort does get passed, even though it would be more useful to the Republican party for such a bill to be conveniently derailed by the "liberal elitists" so that the Republicans can continue to reap the political benefits of howling and yowling about them on schedule every election year.
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