Bush has presided over a 28% increase in non-defense discretionary spending, and a multi-billion dollar government giveaway in prescription drugs. Does that sound "conservative to you?" Does that sound like "rolling back government largesse?" Simple, factual critiques of Bush's record doesn't amount to "Mount Everest" as you put it, it's merely a defense of the principles of conservatism. Rolling back spending is a principle of conservatism. So is accuracy and telling the truth.
Discretionary spending over the last 4 years if you subtract both DOD spending and new Homeland Defense Type spending is about equal to the rate of inflation plus population increase.
What you describe as "non-defense" leaves out Home Land Defense. The figure is not 28%.
USinfo.state.gov/US
North American "Union" Getting Closer
United States, Canada and Mexico
agree to a series of new cooperative measures.
The new agreement is called the
"Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America"
North American Leaders Unveil Security and Prosperity Partnership
Bush, Fox, Martin outline trilateral efforts during March 23 meeting
"President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox announced the establishment of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" in a March 23 joint statement. Convening that same day in Crawford, Texas, for a trilateral meeting, the North American leaders said the security and prosperity of their nations are "mutually dependent and complementary" and explained the impetus for the new initiative.
"In a rapidly changing world, we must develop new avenues of cooperation that will make our open societies safer and more secure, our businesses more competitive, and our economies more resilient," they said in their statement.
The leaders indicated that the North American partnership will work to achieve these ends and "is committed to reach the highest results to advance the security and well-being of our people."
As part of their efforts to protect North America from external threats, to prevent and respond to threats within North America, and to streamline legitimate cross-border trade and travel, the three countries will implement common border-security strategies, enhance infrastructure protection, implement a common approach to emergency response, implement improvements to aviation and maritime security, enhance intelligence partnerships, combat transnational threats, and implement a border-facilitation strategy.
To improve North American competitiveness and enhance the quality of life in the region, the partnership participants will pursue regulatory cooperation while maintaining high health and safety standards. The North American nations will also promote sectoral cooperation in energy, transportation, financial services, technology and other areas. Other initiatives include reducing the costs of trade and enhancing environmental stewardship.
To pursue the partnership mandate, ministerial-level working groups will be established to set specific, measurable, achievable goals and identify concrete steps toward these goals. Within 90 days, the ministers will issue initial reports. Thereafter, the groups will report semi-annually, the three leaders said in their statement.
Following is the text of the joint statement, as released by the White House:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary (Crawford, Texas) March 23, 2005
Joint Statement by President Bush, President Fox, and Prime Minister Martin Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
We, the elected leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, gather in Texas to announce the establishment of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.
Over the past decade, our three nations have taken important steps to expand economic opportunity for our people and to create the most vibrant and dynamic trade relationship in the world. Since September 11, 2001, we have also taken significant new steps to address the threat of terrorism and to enhance the security of our people.
But more needs to be done. In a rapidly changing world, we
(Full text at URL above)
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/BG1703.cfmOf course, discerning what spending is actually related to defense and the 9/11 attacks is not easy. Lawmakers have successfully blurred the distinction between national security and other spending by simply adding "defense" or "homeland security" to the titles of their old, rejected spending proposals.
...
From 2001 through 2003, the federal budget expanded by $296 billion. (See Table 1.) New defense spending accounted for $100 billion of that amount, and other 9/11-induced spending on homeland security, international aid, and domestic rebuilding totaled $32 billion. (See Table 2.) That leaves $164 billion in new spending completely unrelated to defense and the 9/11 attacks. Chart 2 shows that these unrelated expenditures were responsible for 55 percent of all new spending. 