Cincinatus: A little retrospective re-writing of history here. All conservatives supported "Big Government" when we needed it to fight communism during the Cold War (as well they should have), including the sainted conservative icons Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Conservatives made a Faustian deal -- we needed Big Government to fight the commies, so they accepted that idea in principle. That was the camel's nose under the tent. The difference between liberals and conservatives then became to what ends should we apply this Big Government? Liberals wanted to attack social problems with it. The conservatives were then stuck with Great Society boondoggles.
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You are right to a point. Before William F. Buckley and National Review reshaped the conservative movement there was quite a fight between libertarians and some conservatives against other conservatives who wanted to join the establishment Republicans and liberal Democrats in their cold war. The libertarians and elements of the conservatives argued that after W.W.II we should return troops to our own territories, concentrate on fighting socialism at home and leave other countries to sort out their own destinies. The interventionists won the day and it had a high cost. To compliment the above Conservative Lament here is something from the New American web site:
"In 1952, a young "conservative" serving a one-year tour of duty with the CIA wrote an article for The Commonwealth, a Catholic weekly. This man wrote:
"… we have got to accept Big Government for the duration — for neither an offensive nor a defensive war can be waged, given our present government skills, except through the instrument of a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores....
"And if they deem Soviet power a menace to our freedom (as I happen to), they will have to support large armies and air forces, atomic energy, central intelligence, war production boards, and the attendant centralization of power in Washington — even with Truman at the reins of it all.
"That was 1952, and the writer of this article was calling for "Big Government for the duration" and "the attendant centralization of power in Washington" in order to oppose Communism. He wanted to fight Communism by adopting Marxism....Who do you suppose wrote those words? It was none other than William F. Buckley Jr."
Well indeed Buckley got his way, we embraced domestic socialism to fight it internationally and that is what the above article weeps over though they do not make the connection that they helped create the problem. To be honest I was a strong cold warrior myself till after the fact. Not until the internet came along about '95 did I find the old conservative and libertarian arguments against the cold war and after much thought I believe they were correct.
Why on Earth would you believe this? We were in a 50-year fight for national survival; it was a battle that we were compelled to fight (not unlike the current War on Terror.
The Paleo-Buchananite "Fortress America" in which we hide behind our borders, awaiting the arrival of the Huns, is simplistic and silly. We did the right thing during the Cold War and we're doing the right thing now.