This is why I like crusty old farts like Bob Dole, who have been around forever and know first-hand how government involvement often makes things worse, are aware of their limitations.
Politics is no doubt a consideration in this, but the other part is that Bush has completely fallen in love with the power of the office. His line about “when people are hurting, government has to move” is one of the most arrogant and obnoxious things I’ve heard from any chief executive ever, and it is absolutely different in tone from what he said as a candidate. But now that he’s in office he sees all the things he can do on paper and in theory, and he’s spending like a crack junkie who hits the lottery.
This is why we desperately need a sane opposition party. A centrist candidate like Lieberman or maybe Edwards could absolutely hammer W about the deficit.
If you go to Paradise Valley, Arizona, and stand outside the walls of Christ Church of the Ascension Memorial Garden, you can hear the urn that holds Barry Goldwater’s ashes spinning at triple-time as his beloved Republican Party discards the smaller-government beliefs that carried it through the 20th Century. If I agreed with the Republicans on nothing else, I agreed that there needed to be more responsibility in government spending. This new GOP just enjoys lowering taxes without reducing spending. Surprise! The deficit went up! I’m so proud that the Boomers are pawning their debt off on Generation 2K. Way to take responsibility!
Actually, I’m kind of relieved. When I read that subject line, I was sure Bush was proposing funding counseling to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals.
Sure, I was thinking, “geez, not even Bush would be that blatant, especially in an election year,” but one never knows with politicans of any stripe…
I think they should seek to ease the economic burden upon people with kids and that might help marriages just as much. Many divorces and bad family lives come from economic pressures on the parents. Crime would go down too… but we all call this social security.
Social Security I understand is a dirty word in America... the lack of it fills the prisons... but it doesn keep America competitive.