Thursday February 10, 2005

Vote as I Say, Not as I Do

I take pleasure in having been accused by one person as being a Democrat and another as a Republican. In fact I don't much like either party and my personal views cross many party lines. I am not a Libertarian either.

It is always interesting to watch political parties espouse one philosophy while actual implement another. The Republicans have had the advantage in past years of not being in power, so any positions or proposals by them that were not accomplished could be blamed on the Democrats. Now that they are the party in power, they have no one to blame if their words fail to become action.

So how are they doing?

In a recent Washington Post article talks about how the Republicans, traditionally the party of smaller and less intrusive government, have actually become the opposite. The article quotes Indiana Republican representative Mike Pence saying:

"The Republican majority, left to its own devices from 1995 to 2000, was a party committed to limited government and restoring the balances of federalism with the states. Clearly, President Bush has had a different vision, and that vision has resulted in education and welfare policies that have increased the size and scope of government."

Reality is that most politicians first worry about being re-elected and second about party dogma, although the latter may influence the former it is still secondary. The standard stump speech of any politician is that they are the best suited to represent their constituents in Congress. Or in the time warn phrase "All politics is local." Local, if not myopic, vision usually translates into pork barrel spending to "give" the people what they want.

What about tax cuts?

There is a certain cynical element that claims that the Republican strategy of tax cuts is less about supply side economics (a topic for another blog), and more about starving the government of so much revenue that the size of government must be cut to prevent fiscal collapse from out of control deficits. This could actually work if they have the political strength of conviction to risk causing so much pain on the local voters that they are ousted in the next election.

Personally I think that regardless of party, congress will not risk being voted out and the size of government will not shrink.