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Republicans and Big Government.( GOP, Never a Small Gov Party )
Ludwig von Mises Institute ^ | February 19, 2002 | James Ostrowski

Posted on 12/11/2009 4:05:23 PM PST by Leisler

George W. Bush's State of the Union address must have baffled anyone who voted for him based on his pledge to cut the size of government. That speech has been properly and efficiently pilloried by Joseph Stromberg, Alan Bock, and others. The speech was both Wilsonian and Clintonian, which is to say that it proposed a political solution for all human problems and backed this idea with a promise of massive increases in federal spending on just about everything.

But should we really be so surprised? Contrary to popular myth, every Republican president since and including Herbert Hoover has increased the federal government's size, scope, or power--and usually all three. Over the last one hundred years, of the five presidents who presided over the largest domestic spending increases, four were Republicans. Include regulations and foreign policy, as well as budgets approved by a Republican Congress, and a picture begins to emerge of the Republican Party as a reliable engine of government growth.

Herbert Hoover

* Increased federal spending38 percent (current dollars) * Passed the Agricultural Marketing Act (welfare for farmers) * Passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff * Waged war on drugs (alcohol) * Passed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (pork and corporate welfare) * Passed massive tax increases

Dwight Eisenhower

* Increased federal spending30 percent * Created Department of Health, Education, & Welfare (and spending) * Put Earl Warren and William Brennan on Supreme Court * Helped install Shah Pahlevi in Iran (smart, real smart) * Extended Socialism Security to 10 million additional persons * Started American involvement in Vietnam * Passed federal highway legislation * Created NASA * Started student loan program (aka, program to raise college tuition so no one can afford it) * Kept federal counterfeiting to a minimum, causingyou to lose only 9 cents off your 1952 dollar(Source: The Inflation Calculator)

Richard Nixon

* Increased federal spending70 percent * Created EPA, OSHA, and CPSC * Started "affirmative action" * Imposed price and wage controls * Made your 1968 dollarworth just 78 cents by the timehe left office * Proposed minimum national income

Gerald Ford

* Knocked 8 cents off your dollar in just two years [He didn't WIN (Whip Inflation Now] * Increased federal spendingthroughoutterm * Reduced spending on federal prisons by pardoning Nixon * Overall, not too bad for a Republican and better than...

Ronald Reagan

* Increased federal spending53 percent * ElevatedVeteran's Administration * Added 250,000 civilian employees * Created drug czar's office * Escalated war on drugs * "Saved" Social Security by increasing payroll tax * Lowered the value of your 1980 dollarto 73 cents

GeorgeHerbert WalkerBush

* Increased federal spending 12 percent * Signed the (litigious) Americans with Disabilities Act * Managed to knock 13 cents off the value of your dollar in just four years * Just said "Yes" to new taxes

Republican Congress

* Held your dollar's loss in value to a mere 11 cents[Newt and the (1995-2000) gang] * Increased federal spending and taxes collectedeach year * Eviscerated ancient right of Englishmen and Americans--habeas corpus * Flunked the acid test of economic sanity--raising the minimum wage (mandatory unemployment law) * Passed Freedom to Farm Act (at taxpayers' expense, that is)

George Bush II continues this inglorious tradition.He proposes a huge increase in defense spending: "My budget includes the largest increase in defense spending in two decades, because while the price of freedom and security is high, it is never too high: whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay it."

"Never too high" is a good description of the federal budget under Republican presidents. "Defend our country" is a prevarication. We all know the purpose of the defense budget is to maintain a global military empire--the same thing, by the way, that stirs up terrorism and is a magnet for terrorist hatreds.

Yes, all this new spending was spurred on by the events of September 11. First, by all accounts, we already have the strongest military in the world. Why expand it? If we need more troops at home, there are plenty doing nothing guarding Japan, a country with no enemies. Second, there is always a crisis that justifies an increase in spending. If there isn't a real crisis, they will invent one or provoke one. The point is, if you really "trust the people, not the government," you will respond to crises by supporting more individual freedom and less government.

Third, the world did not begin on September 11. Our 104-year-old policy of global intervention has made many enemies. What is happening now is a textbook example of how government grows. Government intervenes into some aspect of life, domestic or foreign, where it doesn't belong. It screws it up good, creates problems that would not otherwise exist, and then uses its powerful propaganda machine to disguise the true cause of the problem and convince people that even more government action is required. To paraphrase Ludwig von Mises, government creates its own demand.

Now for the welfare part of the welfare/warfare state. Lyndon Johnson was less interested in fighting a socialist state abroad than he was in creating a socialist state at home, but he fought the Vietnam War anyway to appear tough on communism, protect his right flank, and stay in power. Bush is the opposite. These days, Bush is focused on foreign policy. But to win in '04, he must protect his left flank and dole out the welfare. So, he recently said:

I support extending unemployment benefits and direct assistance for health care coverage. We need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs. We must upgrade our teacher colleges and teacher training and launch a major recruiting drive with a great goal for America: a quality teacher in every classroom. Americans know economic security can vanish in an instant without health security. I ask Congress to join me this year to enact a Patients' Bill of Rights, to give uninsured workers credits to help buy health coverage, to approve an historic increase in spending for veterans' health, and to give seniors a sound and modern Medicare system that includes coverage for prescription drugs.

Even FDR would be blushing at this point in the speech.

Bush doesn't neglect welfare for the heartland, either. He promises to ask Congress "to enact new safeguards for 401(k) and pension plans, because employees who have worked hard and saved all their lives should not have to risk losing everything if their company fails." I don't know what that means, but once government gets its foot in the door, you know it isgoing to make matters worse and end up socializing all pensions. Bush promises a "productive farm policy." I don't know what that means, either, but I know my pocket is going to be picked somewhere along the line. The only productive farm policy is, of course, laissez-faire.

Those who support small-"r", Jeffersonian republican government would agree with some of the words spoken by the president: "Evil is real, and it must be opposed. . . . Rarely has the world faced a choice more clear or consequential. . . . We choose freedom and the dignity of every life."

Libertarian republicans believe this; conservative Republicans do not, never have, and never will. They are having too much fun down there in Washington running their domestic and global empires.

James Ostrowski practices law in Buffalo, N.Y.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bush; bushlegacy; democratlite; eisenhower; epicfail; geraldford; gop; hoover; lping; ratpartyjr; reagan; rino; rinobush; rinoeisenhower; rinoford; rinohoover; rinonixon; rinoparty; rinotreachery; rnc; socialistlite
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1 posted on 12/11/2009 4:05:23 PM PST by Leisler
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To: Leisler

GOP -> Government Oppressing Party.


2 posted on 12/11/2009 4:08:52 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Leisler

GOP -> Governed Oppressing Party.


3 posted on 12/11/2009 4:09:15 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Leisler

Bi-partisanship in action.


4 posted on 12/11/2009 4:10:12 PM PST by TADSLOS (Prayers to our Fort Hood Soldiers and Families)
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To: bamahead; djsherin; Bokababe; dcwusmc
What is happening now is a textbook example of how government grows. Government intervenes into some aspect of life, domestic or foreign, where it doesn't belong. It screws it up good, creates problems that would not otherwise exist, and then uses its powerful propaganda machine to disguise the true cause of the problem and convince people that even more government action is required. To paraphrase Ludwig von Mises, government creates its own demand.

Well, DUH!

5 posted on 12/11/2009 4:10:54 PM PST by rabscuttle385 (Purge the RINOs! * http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/)
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To: sickoflibs; mkjessup; stephenjohnbanker
FTA:

Now for the welfare part of the welfare/warfare state. Lyndon Johnson was less interested in fighting a socialist state abroad than he was in creating a socialist state at home, but he fought the Vietnam War anyway to appear tough on communism, protect his right flank, and stay in power. Bush is the opposite. These days, Bush is focused on foreign policy. But to win in '04, he must protect his left flank and dole out the welfare. So, he recently said:

I support extending unemployment benefits and direct assistance for health care coverage. We need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs. We must upgrade our teacher colleges and teacher training and launch a major recruiting drive with a great goal for America: a quality teacher in every classroom. Americans know economic security can vanish in an instant without health security. I ask Congress to join me this year to enact a Patients' Bill of Rights, to give uninsured workers credits to help buy health coverage, to approve an historic increase in spending for veterans' health, and to give seniors a sound and modern Medicare system that includes coverage for prescription drugs.

Even FDR would be blushing at this point in the speech.

Wilson and McKinley would have applauded Bush's "progressive" foreign policy, and FDR and LBJ would have applauded Bush's "progressive" domestic policy.

6 posted on 12/11/2009 4:14:34 PM PST by rabscuttle385 (Purge the RINOs! * http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/)
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To: Leisler
You go, my friend.
In all the years I've been here you've e been spot-on concerning things political.
This, is just one more example. ;^)
7 posted on 12/11/2009 4:15:38 PM PST by Landru (Forget the pebble Grasshopper, just leave.)
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To: Leisler

Thanks for this article. It was spot on but probably wouldn’t have survived FR scrutiny back when it was written. Patriotism and Partisanship can be blinding.


8 posted on 12/11/2009 4:37:24 PM PST by streetpreacher (Arminian by birth, Calvinist by the grace of God)
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To: Leisler

W. was not a movement conservative, thats obvious.

Sane libertarians would better serve their cause by joining the GOP conservatives and trying to take over the party. Join the Palin Putsch!!


9 posted on 12/11/2009 4:40:21 PM PST by GeronL (Join the Palin Putsch!!)
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To: Leisler
the devil is in the details. Most of the NEW spending under GB was the new Medicare prescription program and the buildup of the military, the war on terror and Homeland Security. After 9/11 much was needed and I concur with that spent for the protection of the nation.

Today we need to fight a socialist program being installed, and wannabe Marxist president and out of control congress.

direct your attention to the problem at hand!!

10 posted on 12/11/2009 5:07:15 PM PST by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies.)
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To: Leisler

It’s true that the establishment Republicans, the Rockefeller and eastern elites are big government, but times have changed, and the Republican Party needs to change with them. This nation has gone as far down the big government, socialist road as it can go and still claim any connection to the freedom and liberty our Founders delivered to us. It’s time to turn back, and most Republicans are on board with that. For the sake of this nation, our children and grandchildren, the rest of the GOP better get their fingers out of government pockets, and join conservatives.


11 posted on 12/11/2009 5:08:46 PM PST by pallis
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To: elpadre
"When we strip away defense, homeland security and entitlements and adjust for inflation, leaving only discretionary domestic spending, George W. Bush has grown the federal government at a faster pace than Lyndon Baines Johnson," Viguerie writes. "His record for profligate spending is outmatched (for the time being) only by another Big Government Republican, Richard Nixon. And when Bush's second term is over, there's every reason to expect that Bush will hold the record as the president who's grown the federal government at its fastest pace in modern times." ( August 03, 2006 )
12 posted on 12/11/2009 5:52:35 PM PST by Leisler (We don't need a third party we need a conservative second party.)
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To: rabscuttle385; mkjessup; stephenjohnbanker; ohioWfan

Thanks. Your post has my name on it.

The drum beat Bush-neos (Levin, Hannity even Rush) refuse to admit that Bush opened the treasury on domestic spending to win the 2004 election in spite of declining popularity. Iraq was already getting unpopular by 2004 and Bush needed to buy off votes from certain groups.

The Myth is Bush would have won 2004 by running on ‘Rebuild Iraq, not America’. That is what they claim to this day. Their #1 priority was to get GW Bush re-elected.


13 posted on 12/11/2009 6:29:00 PM PST by sickoflibs ( "It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the government spending you demand stupid")
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To: Leisler; rabscuttle385; mkjessup; Gilbo_3; stephenjohnbanker; dcwusmc; Impy

Not to defend them, but the press and the clueless voters demand presidents solve big problems, meaning grow government and spend more and more. And presidents #1 want re-election, as GWB did in 2004.

This is why I have serious reservations about another republican president anytime soon.


14 posted on 12/11/2009 6:51:33 PM PST by sickoflibs ( "It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the government spending you demand stupid")
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To: GeronL
W. was not a movement conservative, thats obvious.
Sane libertarians would better serve their cause by joining the GOP conservatives and trying to take over the party. Join the Palin Putsch!!

I believe that Palin is smart enough not to get sucked into the GOP. I can't think of a bigger waste of time than trying to "reform" the GOP into a conservative party. It's a fool's errand. Conservatism will never be respected by the GOP elitists. Far better and far easier to destroy the GOP and build a conservative/libertarian party over its grave. There is simply too much money, power, corruption, and institutional mass in the GOP to reform it. At its core, the GOP is elitist and always has been. It is an anachronism, totally inadequate to conquer and destroy the mortal danger of liberal fascism.

15 posted on 12/11/2009 8:49:06 PM PST by gorilla_warrior (Metrosexual hairless RINOs for hopey-changey bipartisan-ness)
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To: rabscuttle385; Landru

I agree with almost all of this with the exception of Reagan. Reagan was in an adversarial position with Congress(as opposed to Bush who had the world at his finger tips, and pissed it all away).

Reagan had to rebuild our military, as Carter had all but destroyed it. That cost plenty of money. He also cut the top individual tax rate from 70% to 28%, causing me to work 60-70 hour weeks, and making enough dough that I could have retired in 1989, at the age of 35.

Reagan made 2 promises; to slash our taxes, and stop the spread of communism. He did both. Name another POTUS who made 2 major promises, and kept them?

Sure he made mistakes. a number of them. He should have followed through on abolishing the Dept. of Education. He should never have signed amnesty, thinking that the laws would be followed. But he deserves more than 2 lines of half truths.


16 posted on 12/12/2009 5:18:21 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (Support our troops, and vote out the RINO's!)
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To: stephenjohnbanker; Landru
Name another POTUS who made 2 major promises, and kept them?

Try James K. Polk.

He promised to serve only one term, and he voluntarily retired after only one term.

The four goals on his agenda--including tariff reductions, the re-establishment of the "Independent Treasury System" (which was later replaced by the now-infamous Federal Reserve System), and the acquisition of California, New Mexico, and parts of the Oregon County--were all accomplished.

Ironically, he was a Democrat (from Middle Tennessee)...but a Jacksonian Democrat.

17 posted on 12/12/2009 5:30:42 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (Purge the RINOs! * http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/)
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To: stephenjohnbanker; Landru
He should have followed through on abolishing the Dept. of Education.

At least he didn't create any new departments, something which can't be said of Bush, Nixon, or Eisenhower.

18 posted on 12/12/2009 5:32:35 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (Purge the RINOs! * http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/)
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To: rabscuttle385

You have me on Polk. In all candor, do you think he could have accomplished this during Reagan’s term? Or anything much at all? Since the mid 70’s Congress has been nothing but a criminal left wing enterprise.


19 posted on 12/12/2009 5:44:41 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (Support our troops, and vote out the RINO's!)
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To: stephenjohnbanker; rabscuttle385
Not entering this one, my friends.
Most of what we all see, politically speaking, are illusions. POTUS' included.
20 posted on 12/12/2009 7:45:16 AM PST by Landru (Forget the pebble Grasshopper, just leave.)
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