KT,
>Wayne, you are remembering some Republican Party that never really existed. And, if it ever did exist, it is dead now. The lunatic fringe has had control since Reagan, though George H.W. Bush tried his best to reassert some common sense into the party.<
I think the basic goals are the same. It's the implementation of them that is impossible. Leaving aside Iraq, the goal is lower taxes, less government, and strong defense.
The problem is that it's politically impossible to slow the growth of anything in government once it's in place and people are dependent on it. It's doubly hard to privatize or reduce something even when it makes perfect sense.
So when republicans are in charge we get lower taxes (the politically easy part), a shift of resources to the defense side, and deficits because the dems won't allow then to slow the growth of or cut what they want and still increase defense.
When democrats are in charge we get an expansion of taxes and government in all ways other than defense.
The closest we've had to sensible government was when Clinton was president and the fiscal conservatives took over congress after the country got a smell of the real Clinton in the first couple of years of his administration.
They worked well together. Clinton got his higher taxes, the republicans kept a lid on spending and government, and they reformed things like welfare etc... in a way that was tolerable to the right. |
