Bush Presidency is Advancing the Progressive Agenda

Democrats may be worried that George Bush is unbeatable in 2004, but President Bush’s strength is good news for progressives. No president since LBJ has been as successful in expanding government and increasing the size and scope of social programs as this president. Presidents Carter and Clinton didn’t even come close to matching President Bush’s accomplishments in expanding government social programs. George Bush increased government size and spending more in his first two years than Bill Clinton did in his first six years. By the end of this year, he will have expanded government more than Bill Clinton did in his entire eight-year administration.

To be fair, Bill Clinton had to fight the conservatives in Congress who threw up every roadblock they could muster to thwart his progressive agenda. George Bush has not only silenced the conservative wing of the Republican Party, he has ground them into pulp and made them toothless tigers.

There is no longer any serious talk about making government smaller or eliminating government departments or programs. Smaller government used to be the bedrock principal of the Republican Party. President Bush changed that and is pushing Republicans in Congress not just to accept bigger government, but to embrace it.

Instead of eliminating the Education Department, George Bush almost doubled its size and pushed through the largest increase in funding the department ever enjoyed. He and Ted Kennedy worked closely together to make sure that the federal government also has more power over local schools than ever before.

The testing mandated by the education bill, and the mandate that schools meet minimum standards is a brilliant maneuver that will demand the standards and the tests be controlled centrally from Washington. No one will be able to oppose national standards and a national testing system. Without national standards, testing is subjective and worthless. National standards and a standardized national test will require local schools teach to the test. That means Washington will be dictating the curriculum in every school in America. Bill Clinton and Al Gore couldn’t even dream of accomplishing this much progress.

In other areas President Bush also out performed President Clinton. He expanded other programs the Contract With America targeted for elimination. He expanded Americorps, the Peace Corps, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Head Start.

Working closely with progressive Republicans and Democrats, George Bush passed the farm bill that dismantled the Freedom to Farm Act that conservative Republicans pushed through Congress, and President Clinton signed, in 1996. This new legislation boosts farm spending to record levels. President Bush’s farm bill not only increased old subsidies, it created new subsidies our farmers never had before. No Democrat president could have pushed this legislation through a Republican controlled Congress. The conservative wing of the party still holds some powerful positions in Congress, especially in the House. They were proud of the Freedom to Farm Act and would have fought tooth and nail with a Democrat president to keep it in place. They caved in to President Bush without even a hint of a fight. President Bush effectively cut the conservatives in Congress off at the knees on this legislation and on most of their domestic agenda. He rules the Republican Party with an iron fist and conservatives are unable to out maneuver him.

President Bush signed the Campaign Finance Reform bill into law. Conservative Republicans in Congress are still quietly seething about how he steamrollered them on this. President Bush is also leading the fight to expand Medicare, add prescription drug coverage and mandate mental health coverage. Conservatives kept Presidents Carter and Clinton from adding these entitlements to Medicare. With President Bush pushing the agenda, they aren’t even pretending to oppose these additions.

The president is also leading the fight to extend the child tax credit to low income families excluded from the latest tax cut. He figuratively bitch-slapped Tom Delay and his conservative cohorts who threatened to derail the expanded credit, urging the Republicans to pass the bill quickly and send it to him for his signature. While progressive Republicans like to claim President Bush is following President Reagan’s vision for America, he is actually following President Nixon’s agenda to the letter. President Nixon never tried to eliminate any government program or agency. He expanded government as much as he could. Few people remember that it was President Nixon who created the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Endowment for the Arts. Fewer still remember that it was President Nixon who tied Social Security benefits to the cost of living. President Bush is surpassing President Nixon in advancing progressive social policy.

President Bush is also making talk radio safe for progressives. Hosts who would have railed against President Clinton, or any Democrat, for pushing the progressive agenda President Bush is implementing, excuse this president for it. Many of them attack any conservative who calls to point out that President Bush is a progressive. Even Rush Limbaugh is leery of taking on this president. While he occasionally offers some mild criticism of the president, he always follows that criticism by offering excuses for the president’s actions and progressive domestic agenda. This is partially due to the attacks that come from the Bush cultists any time anyone is anything but worshipful of their guy. Like Democrats who refused to believe that President Clinton was capable of doing any wrong, there is a group of Republicans who would support President Bush no matter how far left he governs. They attack anyone and any group who points out that President Bush is not conservative. Many of these people are domestic progressives who like big government and benefit from government programs. They call themselves conservatives; many of them really think they are conservatives. In fact, they support progressive social programs and most benefit from them. They are critical of the poor who receive government help, but enjoy generous government subsidies of their own lifestyles. Many talk show hosts fall into this category themselves.

The other reason even real conservatives are leery of voicing anything except the mildest criticism of President Bush is they fear retaliation from the administration. They fear being cut off from the information loop. They fear being dropped from the administration’s fax and E-mail grapevine. Their professional status is greatly enhanced by access to administration sources and President Bush is not shy about diminishing or eliminating that access for anyone who puts their principals ahead of support for his agenda.

All things considered, progressives are much better off with President Bush in office than they would be with any of his Democrat challengers. No Democrat on the scene today can come close to matching President Bush’s ability to advance the progressive agenda and marginalize the conservatives in the Republican Party. Four more years of a Bush administration will produce progressive gains that are only matched by FDR’s accomplishments. Rather than being disappointed that they don’t have a Democrat in the presidency, progressives should be thankful they have an ideological soul mate in office. For progressives the cry should be “FOUR MORE YEARS!”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Bender is a freelance writer from Dallas, Texas. His columns have appeared in The Dallas Morning News, Ether Zone, Right Magazine, The Sierra Times, USA Daily and other print and online publications. Your feedback is welcome.

"Look, this is very popular with the senior citizens, you may not like it, but that this is the truth you have to face, and the senior citizens are the biggest voters"

This is one senior that thinks his race to socialism stinks.

BTW, I won't join that commie AARP either.

They have so little of substance to stand on...just vapid comments based on nothing of reality.

They do have some great delusions of grandeur. Just look at the magnificent plan to stop the government steamroller by putting a wrench in its works by and thereby obtaining the ultimate goal of anarchy! Yeah! That's the ticket!

A Democrat president with a Republican Congress will not move us any farther left than Bush is doing.

You couldn't be more wrong — from the Liberal judges apointed with liftime tenure to the Liberal bureaucrats that are placed throughout the government with career appointments to getting much of what they want even with an opposition Congress. And that's just for starters.

When the "choice" was twiddle dee or twiddle dumb...

Simplistic.

Clinton was no worse than Dole would have been.

Delusional.

If conservatives get to the point where they see Bush is as liberal as Dole he will be a one term president like his father and Carter.

You must have been one of those Clinton enablers back in '92.

...I believe he cares more about his political career than anything else and he can be moved to the right if he thinks he will lose the base.

Yeah, that worked just great in '92.......didn't it?

Reagan won two landslides by running on conservative issues. Bush pulled out a squeaker against a clown who even Clinton said was a bad campaigner, by running as a me too socialist.

Offering no choice on important issues is not the way to win over the people. Reagan proved a conservative can win big. Bush never learned that lesson.

I'm sorry but in my book ... anyone who thinks that Agore would have done a better job than Bush has is on the wrong site ... and I'm no Bush Bot

I believe idea advanced was that Gore would not have been allwoed to destroy our nation the way W is. Because the GOP majorities in Congress would have stopped him as they did Clinton.

ActionNewsBill asked you for facts and you run?

ROFLMAO.

You haven't answered a direct question on this forum in over a year.

I wouldn't be throwing THAT stone if I were you.

You are a fake and a fraud and are here to divide us.

Now is as good a time to make a stand as any.

And you're making a stand how, exactly? By posting on Free Republic? By Freeping the White House? By ultimately getting people to vote for a Democrat from the wonderful array of candidates currently in the running?

Who do you REALLY support as a presidential candidate? Be honest. (Use a Number 2 pencil and make sure the circles are completely darkened so we can clearly determine your answer.)

Freep Bush BUT GOOD!

Expecting that W would 'listen' and change his policies is naive. W and those who surround him do not listen. They have an agenda and their goal is to win one more term so that they may continue advancing theirn agenda.

Decent people's goal should be not to beg W to 'listen' but to defeat him.

I wonder if you think Ann Coulter is a Bush bot too?

I admire Ann Coulter but, sadly, she is morphing more and more into a GOP-bot and W-bot.

Such a waste of talent...

You may hate to admit it, but it's true. From Social Security, to Medicare, to subsidies, to "targeted tax cuts," to education spending, the American people are getting what they want.

Well stated post. It reminds me of an overweight person who knows he or she needs to lose those pounds but is addicted to donuts. Quick-fix diets aren't the answer. One has to change the available menu a little bit at a time. (IMO)

You're free to keep working to move the party to the left just like I'm free to try to move it to the right.

Your side is winning but don't expect some of us conservatives to join you. Whether it is a liberal Republican or a liberal Democrat makes no difference to me. I'd vote for Ralph Hall before I'd vote for Olympia Snow. I'd rather vote conservative than Republican.

We each have to vote as we think best. You and I just have different goals for the country.

Who do you REALLY support as a presidential candidate? Be honest.

I think that you've cut to the crux of the matter with most of the "real" conservatives on this board...or a handful of them at least.

Rightwinger.... get your facts straight....

WASHINGTON (AP)

in all due respect we should at least FReep him first because he has done many good things too. We would never of gotton some of the things we have if a rat was in office.

for me this is all about issues and each issue is seperate for the most part.

and socialism issues I do not take lite.

Gore would not have been allwoed to destroy our nation the way W is. Because the GOP majorities in Congress would have stopped him as they did Clinton.

If you're saying that Klintoon did NOT severly damage this country ... you are smoking something that I'm sure is illegal

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