Is president Bush really a conservative?

I met Tammy Bruce (author and radio host) recently and I remember her describing president Bush as a religious liberal. I thought it was an interesting way to put it, but calling him a liberal has a lot of truth to it. Consider that he has grown government larger than ever and at a rate faster than any president in the last fifty years. He has increased spending to almost all government agencies and programs. He believes in a large “compassionate” government, which is really a contradiction, and he has not vetoed a single bill. In fact, the Left should really love Bush if it weren’t for three main things: he’s a Christian, Iraq and tax cuts. If it weren’t for those three things, how different would he be from the average Democrat?

The role-of-government issues used to be a dividing factor between the two parties, but that distinction is becoming increasingly blurred. As the Democratic Party has moved further and further to the left, it had the unfortunate consequence of also dragging the Republicans to the left as well. A founding principle of limited government seems to mean very little to both parties.

One of the presidential icons of the Left is president John F. Kennedy. This democrat was in favor of using the military during the Cuban missile crisis, and he strongly supported free trade and cutting taxes. By today’s standards he’d be considered a republican. This is how far the Democrats have moved left. Today’s Republicans are like the Democrats of 40 years ago, and the Democrats today are just outright Socialists. Those are our two choices – neither one faithful to the libertarian principles outlined in the Constitution.

Unfortunately there is such broad ignorance and/or contempt for the Constitution, that not many politicians could win elections running on a platform faithful to the founding principles of this country.

Why is there such widespread ignorance? Probably because the education system and the media are run overwhelmingly by liberals who are either ignorant themselves, or they don’t want people to know the truth, because they prefer to have people believing the government can do anything, or is supposed to take care of you.

President Grover Cleveland in 1887, upon vetoing a bill appropriating money to help drought-stricken farmers in Texas, said, "I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit."

President Cleveland added, "The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood." [emphasis added] Imagine if any current president tried saying something like this.

Whenever and wherever government increases in size and thus power, economic freedom and liberty decrease. It is a fact that there is an inverse relationship between the size of government and the prosperity of the people. Of course some level of government involvement and spending is neces­sary to ensure that the basic structures of society func­tion smoothly, but we have far surpassed that level, and not just under Bush, but for most presidents going back to at least FDR.

This isn’t to say conservatives shouldn’t have voted for Bush, given the alternative was worse on all grounds. And certainly the issue of judicial nominees is another factor that still separates the two parties, and is probably one of the most important factors for the long-term. But the road the Republicans are on should be a wake up call to realize they are following the same wrong path the Democrats have taken, but they are just a little farther up the road. The Republicans need to turn the party around and head the other direction.

It wasn’t pork-barrel spending, entitlements and special interest groups lobbying politicians for favors that made America great, but it will make us much worse.