I don't believe that you hate poor people, the environment, or think that every big business should be able to do whatever it wants. No, I actually agree with the first part of this quote.
NYTimes.com: "On the right, people are for smaller government as a matter of principle — smaller government for its own sake. And so they naturally imagine that their opponents must be their mirror image, wanting bigger government as a goal in itself."
But that's not true. As a liberal, it's true I don't believe in the simple (or simplistic) principle of small government. But I don't have a goal of large government. Government simply needs to be as big as is necessary to ensure equal opportunity in education, universal health care, a secure retirement, a clean environment, and economic justice (among other things) for all its citizens.
Government doesn't need to be small, it needs to be effective.
Thanks,
-Moldy
P.S. Plus, that free market you like is really a creature of government.
2 comments:
Lately I've been having trouble understanding what it means to say that "small government" is a goal in itself. We established our government to perform certain functions. We collectively disagree about what those functions should be.
Imagine a scenario in which everyone agreed on what government ought to be doing. In this scenario, it seems like it would be in everyone's interest to advocate for the smallest government that did the job. So, shouldn't everyone support small government?
Now, stepping back to the real world, what does it mean to say "I support smaller government as a matter of principle"?
Does it mean either of the following?
(a) Government is too big relative to the job we have charged it with (i.e. government needs to become more efficient).
(b) Government is doing too much (i.e. we should reduce the responsibilities of the government).
If the meaning is (a) then this is not a uniquely Conservative value - I say everyone should support it.
If the meaning is (b) then I say we are having a debate about what government ought to be doing, and calling it "smaller government for its own sake" is a distraction.
A third possible interpretation is "we should have no government at all" but I don't think that's what most Conservatives believe.
So what am I missing? The cynic in me says that it is an abstract slogan used for political purposes. If that's true, then Krugman is either engaging in some kind of rhetorical game, or he misunderstands.
MoldyBlue,
Your post reminded me of an email forward I received 2 years ago from a Republican family member. I was so offended by off-based assumptions and generalizations that I saved the email to review and remember how NOT to engage people in civic discourse.
Enjoy (or get pissed as I did).
SEVENTEEN WAYS TO BE A GOOD LIBERAL
1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.
2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.
3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are more of a threat than nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Iran, China and North Korea .
4. You have to believe that there was no art before federal funding.
5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUVs.
6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial, but being homosexual is natural.
7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.
8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach 4th-graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.
9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but PETA activists do.
10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
11. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.
12. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.
13. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or Abraham Lincoln.
14. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.
15. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.
16. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag queens and transvestites should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.
17. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right-wing conspiracy.
GOD BLESS AMERICA. Oops, can't do that either!!
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