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Cantor to GOP Ranks: Government Can Be Good, Too
Newsmax ^ | Monday, 04 Feb 2013 10:54 AM

Posted on 02/04/2013 12:06:13 PM PST by Olog-hai

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor apparently wants his Republican colleagues to pursue a “government can be good” approach to their politics rather than focusing so much on the size and voracious spending appetite of Washington. …

Citing an unidentified congressional aide as its source, the (Wall Street) Journal said Cantor plans to touch on a host of existing policies and initiatives, from school choice to tax reform, to show how families nationwide would benefit more from Republican ideas rather than those offered by Democrats. …

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: biggovernment; ericcantor; gope; gopestablishment; nomorerinos; norinos; rino; rinosbegone; sayno2rinos
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To: Olog-hai

Government will be “good” when man is good. The Founders knew better and carefully crafted a brilliant division of power to the end that government would be limited to a size where it could be carefully watched.

Cantor is just voicing his “Inner Libtard”.


21 posted on 02/04/2013 12:28:39 PM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."..)
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To: Olog-hai

It is getting to the point that I think voting for craziest most incompetent Democrats (Cynthia McKinney type) is the best way to bring this all to a head and get on with the collapse.


22 posted on 02/04/2013 12:29:49 PM PST by MCF
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To: Olog-hai
It's really important to play this correctly, IMHO. The goal should be to marginalize and de-fang the activists, and paint them as the extreme radicals. I happen to think that for many this is just telling the truth, because their beliefs truly are radical.

I think the Republicans should push the concept that government should be receptive, responsible, and humble and not preach to the citizens who give it life, that as elected officials they are the employees of the citizenry, and that they have the responsibility to be careful and thoughtful caretakers.

It's much easier to make arguments for fiscal responsibility when you are doing it from the perspective of the thoughtful caretakers trying to prevent devaluation of the savings of grandma and grandpa. The GOP has been really horrible with PR.

23 posted on 02/04/2013 12:32:53 PM PST by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: backwoods-engineer

Judenrats.

That’s what the GOP is become officially.

They know where the power is going to lie in a MarxoFascist State - and they want to be sure to be able to share in it.


24 posted on 02/04/2013 12:36:47 PM PST by INVAR ("Fart for liberty, fart for freedom and fart proudly!" - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Olog-hai

Is this a joke?


25 posted on 02/04/2013 12:41:53 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: Olog-hai

The GI Bill and the interstate highway system number among the finest of government achievements.


26 posted on 02/04/2013 12:47:15 PM PST by ex-snook (God is Love)
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To: backwoods-engineer
You must keep in mind that about 99.999% of the folks named Cantor grew up in a hard-core Democrat background and actually have little understanding of or appreciation for American history, or our divided government concepts.

He's a little faster than the others, but not much. At least he's a Republican. Now, to turn him into a Conservative we probably need to redistrict him so he finds out there's no 10% of a moderate undecided middle who are going to hep' him out in a 'lection!

27 posted on 02/04/2013 12:54:42 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Olog-hai
"We, the People" must let our elected officials, including Cantor, know that we hold them accountable to act within the strict limitations of our Constitution.

That Constitution was intended limit the government and leave the people free to the pursuit of their own happiness. In that sense, the Framers believe, self-government to be a "good" concept.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." - George Washington

That's why America's Founders placed the "chains of the Constitution" (Jefferson) upon the three branches of government.

By the Founders' formula, "the People's" written Constitution was the anchor of our liberties, binding government to the "People's" limitations on its power.

The current philosophy of so-called "progressives," in effect, undoes all the monumental work accomplished by the Founders on behalf of liberty and leaves the law afloat and without anchor, relying, as of old, on mere men and women.

From Page xv of "Our Ageless Constitution," allow me to include here excerpted words from President Andrew Jackson's Proclamation of December 10, 1832:

"We have received it [the Constitution] as the work of the assembled wisdom of the nation. We have trusted to it as to the sheet anchor of our safety in the stormy times of conflict with a foreign or domestic foe. We have looked to it with sacred awe as the palladium of our liberties, and with all the solemnities of religion have pledged to each other our lives and fortunes here and our hopes of happiness hereafter in its defense and support. Were we mistaken, my countrymen, in attaching this importance to the Constitution . . .? No. We were not mistaken. The letter of this great instrument is free from this radical fault. . . . No, we did not err! . . . The sages . . . have given us a practical and, as they hoped, a permanent* Constitutional compact. . . . The Constitution is still the object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, our defense in danger, the source of our prosperity in peace: it shall descend, as we have received it, uncorrupted by sophistical construction, to our posterity. . . ."

*Underlining added for emphasis

And, it was Thomas Jefferson who used another metaphor with reference to the Constitution when he indicated that "the People" must "bind them (government) by the chains of the Constitution." In another instance, he declared: "It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated powers. . . ."

28 posted on 02/04/2013 12:56:57 PM PST by loveliberty2
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To: Olog-hai

Sure it can but only if it’s about 5% the size it is now.


29 posted on 02/04/2013 12:58:02 PM PST by muir_redwoods (Don't fire until you see the blue of their helmets)
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To: Olog-hai
Wrong Mr. Cantor. . ."Government, AT ITS BEST. . a necessary evil. . .at its worst. . an intolerable one." Thomas Paine
30 posted on 02/04/2013 1:06:40 PM PST by McBuff
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To: GraceG

That’s a good comment

Send that one to Cantor!


31 posted on 02/04/2013 1:07:57 PM PST by hattend (Firearms and ammunition...the only growing industries under the Obama regime.)
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To: Da Coyote

Apparently, Mr. Cantor is thinking of all his own salary and benefits in saying that government “can be good”. He, like his colleagues, has too much vested in big government ever to shrink it.


32 posted on 02/04/2013 1:13:06 PM PST by Theodore R. ("Hey, the American people must all be crazy out there!")
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To: Olog-hai

Sometimes, I get to thinking Cantor’s acceptable... then he blurts out crap like this.


33 posted on 02/04/2013 1:17:05 PM PST by ScottinVA (Gun control: Steady firm grip, target within sights, squeeze the trigger slowly...)
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To: Olog-hai

Actually, government can be good... when it stays within its Constitutional functions.

However, I don’t think that’s what Eric has in mind.


34 posted on 02/04/2013 1:19:48 PM PST by ScottinVA (Gun control: Steady firm grip, target within sights, squeeze the trigger slowly...)
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To: RatRipper

Amen to that. The GOP has lost its way completely.


35 posted on 02/04/2013 2:06:18 PM PST by AdaGray (squi)
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To: Olog-hai

This leaves no doubt, if any remained, that Cantor is NOT a conservative. A conservative would know that President Reagan said “government is not the solution to the problem. Government IS the problem”. Someone grounded in that philosophy could never make the comment Cantor made.


36 posted on 02/04/2013 3:09:25 PM PST by JewishRighter
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To: Olog-hai

How in the world can he think that this is the strategy? What should be the strategy is to fan the flames against a govt that is out of control. Poll after poll shows a plurality of average Americans believes govt spending is out of control. This is a strategy to fail. Cantor is being an idiot on this.


37 posted on 02/04/2013 3:19:38 PM PST by Maelstorm (This country wasn't founded with the battle cry "Give me liberty or give me a govt check!")
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To: Olog-hai

This is like a Dr. tell a diabetic “Sugar can be good too”. If not having enough sugar or govt was the problem then maybe it would make sense. That isn’t the case. I’ve met Eric and he’s just wrong on this. This is a recipe to fail. Why is it the GOP types like Cantor always get the wrong message from election failures? The only great successes the GOP have had is when they had a believable clarity on the role of government and ran against its largess and over reach like in 1994 and 2010. Why they would think running soft on the anti spending message would be a winner is beyond me. They aren’t going to out big govt Democrats. There is nothing they can offer that will ever be so big that the left can not top on spending.


38 posted on 02/04/2013 3:24:00 PM PST by Maelstorm (This country wasn't founded with the battle cry "Give me liberty or give me a govt check!")
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To: Maelstorm

Maybe I should send Eric a letter on the matter ~ he didn’t do it (lost the election), they did ~ the Democrats got out more voters!


39 posted on 02/04/2013 4:03:55 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Olog-hai

Water can be good too, but I didn’t hear the people of New Jersey asking for more water as Sandy’s tidal surge came ashore. Government can be good, as he says, but only when it is less than half the size of the current federal behemoth.


40 posted on 02/04/2013 5:28:10 PM PST by Pollster1
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