I was going to call this post “the best argument for conservatism I can think of” but the thing is that conservatism really isn’t about small government, it’s about small government for interests conservatives don’t support. Hence the change…
But anyway, the problems with Iraq, with Foley, with Afghanistan, all point to gross negligence, incompetence, and (in the Foley case) a crass desire for power that knows no end.
(An aside on the Foley issue. The Nation has an excellent piece on Foley arguing that if he would have been able to come out of the closet and be who he was then perhaps this would not have happened. For what it is worth I believe them to be right.)
Anyway. Let’s say that the entire political landscape was different, and the political interests that you as a voter prefer run the entire government…and that government does exactly what you want it to. If you knew that this government would not only be replaced by that of your political opponents, but they would be TOTALLY INCOMPETENT…how big would you want your government to be? The Republican Administration is the worst administration I have ever seen from top to bottom. They are incompetent, corrupt, and millenial. Not to mention classist, racist, sexist, etc. etc.
I believe in a government large enough to counter private corporate interests. But times like this? I want government to be small enough that these people (and those that voted for them) can’t do any more damage.
How does the saying go, again? “The problem with Socialism is Socialism; the problem with Capitalism is capitalists.”
The only check on incompetence is having to pay a price for failure, whether that’s losing your job or losing money or losing some power. It seems to me that broad political forces in the US have led to Republicans having a virtual lock on political power for the last few years, and it shows. That’s absolutely horrible for the nation.
I think Bill Clinton was a far better president when he served with a partly Republican-dominated congress than when he had a Democratic one, for much the same reason. With Republicans running all three branches of government, there’s nobody to apply the brakes when a really stupid, but ideologically appealing, idea takes hold.
The Nation’s piece does not examing Foley as a child predator,”he should have come out of the closet”,Pedophile do not come out of the closet they get busted.
Somehow I think that even if he had come out of the closet, he still would have been hiding the fact that he is a pedophile. Unfortunately, the people who covered it up have aided and abetted his actions. The internet, while I think a good invention, has also been a catalyst for illegal actions; it has almost made it easier for people to do things such as this. Perhaps the government doesn’t really want to control it because they themselves are taking advantage and abusing the use of the internet to do their dirty business.
Truth …
From the Archives: The best argument for small govt I can think of http://t.co/06xs6qC8
From the Archives: The best argument for small govt I can think of http://t.co/06xnyQBe