Phoenix32890 wrote:Quote:Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, leader of the more than 100 conservative members of the Republican Study Committee, charges that some Republicans think "big government is good government if it's our government."
boomerang- I think that the above says it all. Old time conservatives were thrifty about government spending
The big government / small government thing is not just about money, either.
In Georgia, there's been something up with a Voter Identification Law:
Georgia's Voter Identification Law Barred.
The telling detail of that article, however, comes near the end:
Quote:Supporters of the law said they would challenge the ruling.
"We'll appeal it until the Supreme Court makes a decision. Hopefully by then the president will have a good conservative court up there that understands the will of the people," said Republican state Sen. Don Balfour.
That's not traditional conservatism, not to mention the usual Constitutionalist drum beat about the need to interpret the law purely by the letter of the Constitution, and to stop "activist judges".
Ruling purely by the letter of the law? No, thats not what the Supreme Court is to do at all, according to Balfour's brand of Republicans. It is to express "the will of the people" - if, of course, the people happen to have voted Republican.
Little affinity with checks and balances, or the need for neutral institutions. Politics is a fight for the soul of the nation, of us against them. That can and should be fought by any means necessary. And anyone who purports to (want to) be 'neutral' must just be a stooge of the opposition, and should be taken out.
Something along those lines.