The Era of Big Government is Back--Under George Bush

Bill Clinton declared that the era of big government is over. The LA Times reviewed how George Bush has brought it back:

Even as President Bush proposes significant cuts in healthcare, farm subsidies and other domestic programs, his new budget makes one thing clear about the legacy of his first term in the White House: The era of big government is back.

Bush's $2.57-trillion budget for 2006, if approved by Congress, would be more than a third bigger than the 2001 budget he inherited four years ago. It is a monument to how much Republicans' guiding fiscal philosophy has changed over the 10 years since the GOP's Contract With America called for a balanced budget and abolition of entire Cabinet agencies.

No longer are Republicans arguing with Democrats about whether government should be big or small. Instead, they are at odds over what kind of big government the U.S. should have.

Clinton left office with a surplus. Kerry ran advocating a" pay as you go" policy. The likely incoming chair of the DNC, Howard Dean, also defines himself as a fiscal conservative. In contrast, it was George Bush who brought back deficit spending:

Republicans' commitment to eliminating the deficit, a cornerstone of the Contract With America, also seems a thing of the past. Party members now argue that the deficit — although it is a record in absolute numbers — is manageable because, when measured as a share of the economy, it is not as large as Reagan's 1983 deficit.

But Stanley E. Collender, a budget analyst with Financial Dynamics, a business communications firm in Washington, said that amounted to "using the budget failure of one Republican to make the large deficits of another appear to be less troubling.

"President Bush would never admit this, but he has transformed the party into the party of permanent big deficits," he said.

This provides two opportunities for Democrats. First, the deficit presents an opportunity to place a wedge between those who traditionally supported Republicans but do not yet realize that the current coalition of neoconservatives and the religious right which now dominates the GOP no longer represents traditional Republican values.

Secondly, this provides Democrats a chance to define their beliefs on the role of government in society, rather than allowing the Republicans to simply claim to be the party in opposition to big governemnt and defining the Democrats as the party of big government. The second point is one I plan to address further in the near future.