Amen...

Ezra Klien on "big government"

The question, of course, isn't whether government should be big or small, but whether it should be used for more than launching wars and abrogating rights. Rather than articles that accept the frame of big government as "bad" and try to protest that Republicans are for it too, I'd much prefer a movement to restore government's reputation, and simply underscore the Right's incompetence at managing federal affairs.

I've been interested in building a list of "Government failures"... that have occurred during the terms of those who are busy decrying Government as inefficient, incompetent, and wasteful. One would think those who are here to protect us from the big bad government would be the ones to be able to do things right. But that doesn't seem to be the case. As Krugman pointed out in a recent op-ed on Bush's Schip position

He wants the public to believe that government is always the problem, never the solution. But it's hard to convince people that government is always bad when they see it doing good things. So his philosophy says that the government must be prevented from solving problems, even if it can. In fact, the more good a proposed government program would do, the more fiercely it must be opposed.

And that is the crux of some conservatives. Its hard to want the government to intervene in the economy when one is walking out with wads full of cash in their pockets... at least I would think that would have more to do with the fight against "big government" than due to some passionate belief in liberty and personal responsibility.