Instapundit links to this article:
Addressing the delegates more than two years ago at the Republican National Convention, President Bush invoked a line that had become a sort of mantra.
“Big government is not the answer,” he said.
Now, just past the midway point of his first term in office, Bush is presiding over the largest, most expensive — and, some would say, most intrusive — federal government in history.
The GOP, the responsible adults. Some more snippets:
– In the past five years, while median household income has grown by about 16 percent, the federal government’s spending has increased by 45 percent.
– After a four-year period ending in 1997 that saw fairly stable spending management — Congress’ budget authority grew from $509 billion to $511 billion — a spike began in 1998, when federal spending got an $18 billion boost to $529 billion. Spending in 2003 could top $750 billion.
Why? Because the Republicans held the House from 1994 on, and there was no spending proposed by Clinton that they would approve. basically, that was helpful, despite being petty. The real problem lies with the Senate Republicans, although if they this week had not managed to have 25 party line votes and finally showed some discipline, Kennedy, Byrd, and Daschle would have blown the budget entirely to hell and back, while the Democrat contenders for 2004 would be carping qabout the deficit.
This is a problem- and it has nothing to do with the problem of getting Bush re-elected. The problem is that they are pissing away my our money. I should have just ripped up my voter registration after the Lott affair. These people don’t represent me anymore than the Democrats.
*** Update ***
Read Zell Miller in the Opinion Journal.
Neal
See Zell Miller’s editorial in the WSJ:
“Congress forgets all too often that there is no such thing as “government money.” There is only taxpayers’ money. I got into government because I’ve always believed that government can help people. But good government doesn’t mean big government. Good government means providing basic services efficiently. Good government means not just asking how to make a program more efficient, but asking what would happen if we got rid of the program entirely. Why waste time making something more efficient if we don’t need it? There’s a whole herd of sacred cows grazing in the lush green pastures of the federal government. Even though many of them quit giving milk long ago, we still fund them. I say take ’em out and shoot ’em.”
From a Democrat no less (granted, one that is leaving the Senate). It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a Republican say anything close to this. How unfortuanate.