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The Spectacle Blog
Jonathan Alter has a column arguing that Paul Ryan’s budget cuts are un-Republican, citing everything from Lincoln-era Hamiltonian internal improvements to Ronald Reagan signing on to a few tax increases:
The idea of using government money to invest in the future hardly died with Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt built the Panama Canal; Dwight Eisenhower constructed the interstate highway system; and Republicans have voted for smaller such investments repeatedly over the years.
Even in 1964, when Republicans nominated conservative Barry Goldwater for president, the party platform made it clear that the tax cuts it promised would only materialize “as fiscal discipline is restored.”
Reading Alter’s column, you would get no sense of the national debt crisis that motivates Ryan’s budget, the little-bitty problems with Fannie and Freddie, or the fact that Solyndra is in many respects a more representative contemporary government “investment” than the interstate highway system.
When a liberal columnist chides the Republican Party for not following the principles of Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Reagan, run away.
View all comments (8) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/13/teddy-roosevelt-built-a-canal
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Tim the Enchanter| 4.13.12 @ 3:25PM
Strangely enough, building "post offices and post ROADS" (caps mine) is in the Constitution. Canal building might be a bit of a stretch, but its primary purpose (as with roads) is transportation. I'd rather have a million miles of new roads than a million new welfare queens any day of the week. At least the former are useful.
we love dead conservatives| 4.13.12 @ 3:35PM
Liberals when Goldwater and Reagan were alive:
"Dangerous. Fascistic. Racial animus. Psychologically unbalanced."
Liberals when they die:
"You know you Republicans are too right-wing for even Reagan!!!!!!"
i'm sure the cycle will repeat if Romney's elected -- he'll have "betrayed" Bush on some point, inevitably one that Bush was "liberal" on.
JP| 4.13.12 @ 3:37PM
Okay, let's keep the canals, highways, and post offices. In the long run, defence spending, transportation, and the USPS are not the problem. But, if you add up future unfunded obligations to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security add up to $100 trillion over the next 60 years. Ryan, if anything only trims around the edges. And being a politician he wished not to take the scaple to these popular programs; so, he cuts other less popular ones.
It's time for our politicians to tell the voters the choice is theirs. In less than 5 years the gig is up.
LiveFreeOrDie| 4.13.12 @ 4:00PM
The conservative references were the most egregious?
How about the part where he writes, "...the earned income tax credit, the most successful anti-poverty idea in a generation..." and continues regarding the EIC, "God forbid the working poor continue to get a little help."
I could use a "little help" Mr. Alter how about writing me a check for a couple thousand? What a puke.
Drek| 4.13.12 @ 4:02PM
They're throwing anything at the wall, just so long as it sticks, no matter how inane.
Christopher C| 4.14.12 @ 2:36AM
Rather like the content of Mr Romney's negative ads, targeted on his primary opponents? As you say, "just so long as it sticks". I saw that Romney said he approved of Paul Ryan's budget. Even twerps like Ron Paul know just trimming won't do the job. Rick Santorum's reaction was "Good, but we'll need to go further". Yes. The Newt? He still likes big government programs to go along with entitlement reform, it appeared.
albert constantine jr.| 4.13.12 @ 4:12PM
A large problem with government spending is when there is a lot of money to be spent with limited oversight, a lot of less than honest people show up to get their “share”. While I think most people appreciate a jet fighter, submarine or paved road way as a tangible and real asset that can be touched and counted. The money spent on signs announcing a project as part of the Recovery Act, EBT for others’ brand name groceries, “shovel-ready” Planned Parenthood allocations and the AFDC payments that fuel drug sales on “Mother’s Day” when the checks come out are met with less enthusiasm.
It probably is quite true regarding public expenditures that most things of real value are bought by the government, not built by it. If anyone needs consumer protection, it is as much the taxpayer at large as it is the individual private citizen who is making decisions about his or her own money.
Richard Baker| 4.14.12 @ 10:00PM
I was unaware that a nearly $16 Trillion National debt would be a state of affairs acceptable to TR, Ike, or Ronald Reagan. The government is addicted to this state of affairs and needs to retrench massively, soon.