The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Kristol Defends Big Government

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Kristol Defends Big Government

By Robert Stacy McCain on 12.8.08 @ 12:25PM

Limited government is so 1994:

I can't help but admire some of my fellow conservatives' loyalty to the small-government cause. It reminds me of the nobility of Tennyson's Light Brigade, as it charges into battle: "Theirs but to do and die." Maybe it would be better, though, first to reason why.

The exact opposite of my advice. So that's Kristol and David Brooks urging conservatives to learn to love big government. It's getting kind of lonely over here in the conservative wing of the conservative movement.

View all comments (8) | Leave a comment

J David| 12.8.08 @ 1:06PM

Conservatives' dreams that the smackdown just suffered was a wake-up call to disavow the RINO herd, and return to the gospel of Reagan is still just a dream. I'm sure Parker, Brooks, Barnes, Frum, Kristol, etc. would agree...

daboss| 12.8.08 @ 2:14PM

same bunch that supported mccain in the primaries ... look where that got us.

i am considering canceling my subscription to the weekly standard.

phil king| 12.8.08 @ 2:51PM

The RINOs are the republican party. This is the battle the Conservative movement has fought for lo these 50 yrs. Isn't it about time small government became the rallying point for the movement? The increase of freedom is the goal. Apparently the voting public is more concerned with someone else paying their way than in their personal freedom. Where do we go? There is no place to flee.

stuart | 12.8.08 @ 2:55PM

Kristol's depiction of small government and big government conservatives is ambigious and muddled. He posits a distinction at one point between limited government conservatives- of which he says he is one- and small government cons. Limited government types only oppose government programs that reward irresponsibility and politicize markets. But isn't that the type of spending "small government" advocates oppose?
Toward the end of the piece he says that small government conservatives oppose any big stimulus spending by Washington. Big government conservatives, on the other hand, wouldn't currently mind seeing stimulus spending provided it went for much needed missile defense systems. Kristol is ignoring the fact that almost every small government Republican to a man favors robust defense spending.
Kristol makes one point which is worth pondering.
Why has been almost impossible for even Republican governors to cut spending-not simply reduce the rate of the increase?

Bob| 12.8.08 @ 6:13PM

RSM, this is nice rhetoric, but it is not based in reality. Let me make the case simply. 33% of the budget is in medicare/medicaid, 21% in social security, 20% in defense, and 8% in interest payments (that will rise to 10% soon). Medicare and social security will rise significantly with boomers retiring. If you believe in a strong defense, that will not be reduced. And you obviously cannot reduce interest if deficits continue. So if you really want small government (which means reducing the money we spend on government), you must be willing to cut medicare/medicaid and social security and defense spending significantly. If you are not willing to do that, then your cries for small government is just anti-intellectual and dumb. There is not enough other spending available to make a change from big government to small government.

So, RSM, tell me how you are going to cut the federal budget significantly....

Ran Hay| 12.8.08 @ 11:00PM

"RSM, this is nice rhetoric, but it is not based in reality. Careful.

Small government means small on many levels beyond budgets. Restoration of individual rights and responsibilities, for example, denied by fiat from, say, the EPA or the BATFE or from Kelo.

Another: Restoring the UN to it's place in the circular file. That's a massive Big Government threat worthy of our recycling efforts.

Another: Putting Historic preservation on ice.

Another: Call out the Eco Crisis for the fraud that it is, and robustly point out the money trails behind it.

More: There are millions of pages of very unworthy Statist-Socialist law to be undone, each having incremental impact on our wealth and self-governance, the vast majority of which have had exactly the opposite effect of their stated intentions.

If one is really hung-up on budgets and dealing with what's real, how 'bout saving money this way: Fire the FBI team desperately looking for the "original" Aramaic copies of the Five Books of Moses under Roswell, NM.

Bob| 12.9.08 @ 9:39AM

Ran, I now understand your point of view -- complete disregard for facts just doing the little things on the theory that the little things will make you "feel" better. They certainly won't have a major impact on our governance.

If you want to restore individual rights, then start by backing pro-choice candidates. If you don't, you are not really serious about this.

The U.N. is certainly not an institution I'd support, but it does have a limited positive effect in communication. In the big scheme of things, we spend so little on it that I could go either way.

On historic preservation, I do believe strongly in education, and to the extent we are talking about major items in our history where children can learn about the past, I'm for it. Do I want to preserve the little schoolhouse on the prairie? No.

Regarding the FBI team, I have visited Roswell and spoken to the aliens. They told me you were a biblical reject. Oh, well....

Ran, the problem with your ranting is that you'd feel happy if the government just dealt with the little things that will not make much of a difference. There are much bigger fish to fry...