From: Gary Wiltshire 

Why do you think I voted Libertarian?

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 10:37:14 -0500, Monte Davis
 wrote:

> Remember an exchange here a couple of months back about the Democratic
> vs. Republican record on fiscal management and government growth?
>
> Here's David Brooks in an op-ed today -- yeah, that David Brooks, nine
> years at The Wall Street Journal, eight at The Weekly Standard, and a
> conservative by any criterion:
>
> "The G.O.P. used to have a governing philosophy: reducing the size of
> the state. This was a useful goal because it was the one thing all
> Republican factions could agree upon. The business community wanted to
> reduce the public sector because it stifled growth. Social
> conservatives wanted to shrink the nanny state because it produced
> dependency. Libertarians and populists wanted to reduce government
> because it gave too much power to bureaucratic elites.
>
> ...But the main reason reducing the size of government can't be the
> party's animating principle is that Republicans have no credibility on
> this subject. During the Reagan years, Republicans tried to cut the
> size of government and failed, then blamed the Democrats controlling
> Congress. In 1995, Republicans tried to reduce the size of government
> and failed, then blamed the Democrats controlling the White House. Now
> Republicans control everything, and over the past three years the size
> of government has still increased, not even counting the war on
> terror."
>
> Note to Gary "it always was and will be the Democrats' fault" Britt:
>
> Do try to keep up.
>
>
>



--
Gary Wiltshire

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