Enthusiasm, Lack Of

I can't say I'm really surprised by what Derb refers to as Bushism... the throwing of money at a problem to help fix it. We knew what kind of conservative we were backing in 2000. (At least I did.) I was a Forbes guy. He still strikes me as a guy who wouldn't recklessly spend government money like a drunken sailor. (And as Minnesota's, and Carolina's, Mr. Right would say, that's an insult to drunken sailors.)

G. W. is a spending guy. We got 'em in both parties, although, we expect them more in the loyal opposition.

From John Derbyshire in today's National Review Online:

...I’d still vote for Bush over any Democrat, but I really can’t take too much more Bushism. Iraq... New Orleans... Medicare… Our president — my president, since I voted for him — really does believe that the feddle gummint can accomplish absolutely anything just by spending boxcars full of money. When did conservatives ever believe this? And didn't even Americans at large stop believing it around 30 years ago? And when does this open-borders insanity end? A whole quarter of my town has been turned into a vicious slum by illegal immigrants. Why doesn’t the federal government do its job — round them up and deport them?

I hoped that President Reagan's death last year would serve as a reminder of the value of his style of government and leadership. I yearned to see more of it. I still do.

However, I'm willing to ride it out until we have carried out more anti-terrorist activities... even if that's going to be a long time.

The days of small, less intrusive government are (sadly) over. That train left the station quite some time ago. That doesn't mean we can't try to reverse some of the unfortunate trends. It just means that progress will be e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y. . . s-s-s-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-w.