THE CAMPAIGN SPECTATOR: Limited Government Woes

...to secure the national food supply...

...So in other words, it wasn’t the paternalistic nature of the proposal that bothered him—the idea that it would literally instill government dependence in every child from birth—but the cost...

...As president, he promised he would “help middle class families make ends meet by making sure they all know they’ve got health care that’s affordable...

...But his opposition is less about ideology than triggered by a general reformist, good government mindset—one that also prompted him to champion restrictive campaign finance regulations...

...The statement was made in the context of describing a plan to spend $150 billion to expand I-95 by two lanes...

...I just want to know how to pay for it...

...For one thing, as Paul astutely pointed out, the very idea of a president running the economy as if he were the CEO of the country is at odds with tradi3 4 T H e a M e R I c a n s P e c T a T o R M a R c H 2 0 0 8 P H I l I P K l e I n tional conservative thinking about the role of government...

...He also made an analogy between forcing individuals to purchase health insurance and welfare reform that required those on the dole to work...

...Only Ron Paul, whose foreign policy views made him unacceptable to most conservatives, had the correct answer...

...With his back against the wall in Michigan, Romney promised a $20 billion bailout for the auto industry...

...The catastrophic fund that Giuliani supported, if implemented, would cause a gross distortion in the economy, because artificially lowering insurance rates would only encourage more people to move to disaster-prone areas, meaning more costly storms in the future...

...The president is not supposed to manage and run the economy,” Paul said...

...With the economy an increasingly hot topic this Philip Klein is a reporter for The American Spectator...

...Last September, I attended the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference, where Hillary Clinton floated the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that they could access when they are 18 to go college or put a down payment on a house...

...In the debate, Romney actually referred to his employment of government health care mandates in Massachusetts as “the conservative approach” because of free riders who show up at hospitals without health care...

...McCain, who notoriously voted against the Bush tax cuts, trumped a “cap and trade” system to deal with global warming that would set quotas on carbon dioxide emissions and have companies that want to exceed their quotas purchase unused emission rights from other companies...

...I’d be very interested to know how she’d pay for that,” McCain quipped...

...One of the moderators, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, asked John McCain, “What makes you more qualified than Mitt Romney, a successful CEO and businessman, to manage our economy...

...His resentment of government waste led him to essential to individual liberty...

...Many of you know that for every billion dollars we invest in highways there are 40,000 direct jobs that get created,” Huckabee said to the Latino Builders’ Association in Miami, on the Friday before the primary...

...Unfortunately, the oppose farm subsidies, even though his rivals scram- Republican nomination battle didn’t engender much bled to defend them by rhapsodizing about the need confidence...

...Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, boasted that he had more executive experience than anybody else on stage because of the more than ten years he served as governor of Arkansas...

...M a R c H 2 0 0 8 T H e a M e R I c a n s P e c T a T o R 3 5...

...Some would argue that conservatives are better off with a candidate who would practically seek to reduce government, than one who talks eloquently about limiting government, but can’t get anything accomplished...

...And I did it out of patriotism, not for profit...

...He followed it up in South Carolina by promising to fight for every textile job...

...During the Democratic primaries the leading candidates proposed massive increases in spending, but claimed these were paid for because they would roll back the reckless Bush tax cuts for the rich...

...Is that an increase in taxes or she anticipates a revenue windfall...

...In all due respect, I think it’s a worthy cause, I’d like to give everyone, every baby born, $100,000...

...The people are supposed to run it...

...In the debate, Romney would also cite his experience turning around the Olympics as evidence that he could lead the economy...

...The government is supposed to give them sound money, low taxes, less regulation...

...I led the largest squadron in the United States Navy...

...The problem, however, with viewing pragmatic fiscal conservatism as interchangeable with limited government ideology is that it’s very easy for Democrats to argue that they can expand government while being fiscally responsible...

...But during the campaign, Republican candidates generally failed to recognize the distinction...

...That afternoon, McCain held a conference call, and I asked him what he thought of the idea...

...And because conservatives were desperate for any candidate who could stop McCain’s charge toward the nomination, they were willing to overlook his statist impulses and economic pandering...

...Because I know how to lead,” McCain responded...

...Romney is another interesting case...

...But to Romney, government can solve problems, as long as the person in charge is competent enough...

...Fred Thompson did give speeches attempting to shift the debate back to “first principles” and a commitment to a restrained federal government, but his candidacy failed to take off after an initial wave of enthusiasm...

...Desperate for a win in Florida, Rudy Giuliani, who proposed the largest tax cut in history as well as severe reductions in spending, spent his last weeks as a candidate vowing to jump-start our efforts to land on Mars (the space program is a large employer in the state), and touting his support for a National Catastrophic Fund, which would lower insurance rates for Florida homeowners living in hurricaneprone areas...

...The fact that he was an incredibly successful businessman created the impression that he would handle the economy responsibly...

...Earlier that week, at an appearance in Sanford, Florida, the day before that state’s critical primary, Romney had declared, “You see, I think it’s helpful, if you want to run the economy, to have actually had a job in the private sector, which I’ve had...

...The people are supposed to do this...

...Part of the explanation for this drift by Republican candidates is the conflation of pragmatic fiscal conservatism and a genuine philosophical commitment to limited government...

...As economic stimulus became the focus of the campaign, the populist Huckabee fully embraced Keynesianism, the discredited liberal philosophy that advocates government spending as a way out of economic downturns...

...Wciples, he refers to his long-running battle tives are going to succeed is to make principled argu a v r s n o c y a w y l n o e h t , e r a c t l a e f o e r u t u f e h t r e v o i r t r e v o g i l i m m o c heneve t r m m en C t C to ain im is t e C d hallen n G m ed e n o p n h n is - election year, and h a dom h estic policy struggle loo e ming - - against pork barrel spending, which is commend- ments as to why limiting the size of government is able...

...But Giuliani’s response to critics was that the federal government ends up stepping in anyway in the event of a major disaster, so being proactive is the more fiscally conservative thing to do...

...At an appearance in Tampa before the Florida primary, he defended his imposition of mandates on Massachusetts citizens as part of his universal health care plan, which forced everybody to purchase health care insurance or face fines...

...The expansion of government under Bush, sadly, has given Democrats the opening to argue that they are the party of fiscal responsibility...

...Reagan said that government wasn’t the solution to the problem, government was the problem...

...T H e c a M P a I G n s P e c T a T o R Limited Government Woes by Philip klein Twhen the remaining candidates sat at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, attempting to make the case for themselves as the rightful heirs to the Gipper’s legacy...

...I know how to lead...

...Though one should naturally flow from the other, the two are not synonymous...

...season, the leading Republican candidates for president drifted further and further away from here was a tellinG moment in the final Republican presidential debate before Super Tuesday, In the waninG days of the Republican primary the limited government principles that once defined the party, even as they claimed to be economic conservatives...