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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Bearcatbob who wrote (116136)7/22/2009 9:09:53 AM
From: JohnM  Read Replies (1) of 542009
 
The above is the issue of our day. Feel good big government will not work.

You've made that position clear, Bob. The problem I have with it is, that as stated, it's an ideological position rather than a politically pragmatic one. What's the evidence that the growth of government slows down the economy? One would need to specify more clearly just what portions of governmental growth do that. Is it simply more money to "government?" Or is it specific functions? And what does one mean by the economy? Is the government part of that or is it only the private portion? Etc.

As I recall, it's not true that the "economy" does better when the Reps control the WH than the Dems; in fact, it is the opposite. On several measures of the economy. The genuinely classic one is the Clinton years by contrast with the Bush II years. But there are others as well.

I would prefer to think of a wise role for government in the economy and a dumb one, or rather, more clearly, a continuum from a wise one to a dumb one. So that one looks as specific functions performed in specific ways and questions whether the larger society benefits from them. The economy would be only one measure.

Modern economies simply require some government role. That's why the libertarian purists such as Ron Paul or the sophisticated philosophers such as Robert Nozick in his book, Anarchy, State and Utopia are simply wrong. It just won't work in complex societies.
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