My fellow conservatives and brave Republicans, there have been some tragic election losses in the past few years, in Congress mainly because of corruption and scandals, and in the presidential election for many reasons. But fear not! Now is a unique time in history when we have the opportunity to recreate our tarnished image.
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to most when I make the claim that our former president was not the most accurate “Republican” when it came to the issues. The main issue that I wish to address is that President George W. Bush was a big spender. In fact, he was the biggest spender of all the presidents so far!
Typically, Republicans have held to a belief called “classical liberalism.” Classical liberalism is the political philosophy that stresses a free market system and limited government. Political philosophers of this view were Adam Smith, John Locke, Montesquieu, John Stuart Mill, and the late Milton Friedman. U.S. presidents who advocated classical liberalism included Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.
In a simpler explanation, classical liberals, or modern day Republicans pre-W. held to the belief of small government involvement in the economic affairs of man. This means less spending. When there is small government spending, there is less taxation. With fewer taxes, American families can use their money toward whatever immediate need or desire there is. It is true that Bush was a small spender, until you come to the military side of the budget.
He spent a lot of money on military spending (Afghanistan and Iraq) and anti-terrorism spending (homeland security issues). In their Dec. 26, 2008 article, “The $1 Trillion Bill for Bush’s War on Terror,” TIME magazine reported that this dollar amount will continue to rise. There are two problems with Bush’s fiscal policy regarding Iraq. He did not raise taxes to help pay for it, but instead he lowered taxes while in office! But what exactly does this mean?
Consider this example: When you purchase a home, you take out a mortgage (a loan). You obviously don’t have all the money to pay for the house up front, but you plan to pay back the debt over time. You have a steady job, you take a pay cut. Now you have less money to pay the monthly bill and it will take longer to pay back the debt in full. Or, another option is that you take on another job sometime later and pay more toward the end. This is how our government works with a budget, but instead of getting a job, taxes are raised.
Guess who is getting stuck with the debt of Bush’s spending policy? We are. But, change is here! President Barack Obama, being the social liberal (as opposed to classical liberal) that he is, will bring about an increase in taxes. Will this cover our bill? No. Social liberals also believe in big government spending. Ironically enough, Obama’s plan to give the economy a “quick fix” is to provide government money to companies as a “bailout” and to lower taxes to help out American families.
If you caught on like I did, Obama’s first plan is exactly like Bush’s spending policies! This was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan back during the Great Depression. It got us “out” in the short term, but is exactly the reason why we are where we are today. Where do you think Bush and Obama’s budget will lead us in 70 years?
It’s time for classical liberals to rise up in this democratic republic and become true advocates of less government spending, lower taxation. It is there that we can find capitalism thriving in the economic liberty that America provides.
