February 19, 2010
A double standard for CPAC conservatives?
Zoe Romanowsky
The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) is holding its annual conference right now in Washington, D.C. and these comments by Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict caught my eye today:
I’m sure we’ll hear an awful lot about “limited government” from the mouths of CPAC politicians over the next few days. If I had a nickel every time a conservative said “limited government” and didn’t mean it, I’d be a very rich man.
Unlike libertarians, most conservatives simply don’t want small government. They want their own version of big government. Of course, they have done a pretty good job of fooling American voters for decades by repeating the phrases “limited government” and “small government” like a hypnotic chant.
It’s interesting that conservatives only notice “big government” when it’s something their political enemies want. When conservatives want it, apparently it doesn’t count.
- If a conservative wants a trillion-dollar foreign war, that doesn’t count.
- If a conservative wants a 700-billion-dollar bank bailout, that doesn’t count.
- If a conservative wants to spend billions fighting a needless and destructive War on Drugs, that doesn’t count.
- If a conservative wants to spend billions building border fences, that doesn’t count.
- If a conservative wants to “protect” the huge, unjust, and terribly inefficient Social Security and Medicare programs, that doesn’t count.
- If a conservative wants billions in farm subsidies, that doesn’t count.
Tagged as
bailout,
CPAC,
Social Security,
War
Zoe Romanowsky is writer, consultant, and coach. Her articles have appeared in "Catholic Digest," "Faith & Family," "National Catholic Register," "Our Sunday Visitor," "Urbanite," "Baltimore Eats," and Godspy.com. Zo
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