[Jacksonville Patriot]

I post this to demonstrate contemporary Establishment thinking. We know what Reagan and Thatcher would say to this. Let's communicate, explain, lead, and fight!

[edcoil]

Anyone with this much free time to write this much is not worth listening to.

K.I.S.S.

[jadedm1]

Speaking of Big Government....

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPrint.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200511\NAT20051104b.html

[Jack Black]

Thanks. It's long. Need to print and read later.

[in hoc signo vinces]

WTF? Someone is definitely overthinking their agenda or does side work for CNN, which loves running their daily stroy about the GOP being in disarray.

[Mr. Jeeves]

It would mean recognizing that you can't have an "ownership society" in a nation where too many Americans owe far more than they own.

Americans have demonstrated over the last decade that they don't want an "ownership society" - by and large, they are much more comfortable being owned.

[TChris]

Synopsis: Fiscal conservatism is dead. Embrace it.

[rellimpank]

-b-

[wildbill]

Wasn't Bill Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, the original proponent of Big Active Government Conservatism?

[Alberta's Child]

The Weekly Standard has long had a reputation as a repository for "big government" advocates in my mind, and this article reinforces that view of mine.

The author's infatuation with "baby bonus" legislation is particularly telling. Any so-called "conservative" who tries to support his point by citing a key piece of legislation in what is arguably the most radically Marxist jurisdiction in all of North America (the Canadian province of Quebec) needs to have his head examined. What's next -- a call for gasoline subsidies and free matches for rioters in Parisian suburbs?

[TBP]

I'm surprised that they didn't pick up on a welfare policy that South Carolina has. In SC, when a woman comes in for AFDC, she has to identify the father and his wages are garnished. What if this were coupled with a provision that you could get out of the garnishment by marryig the mother and staying married to her?

Some of these proposals are pretty good. But what this article mainly shows is that we have to fight even harder against the encroachment of Big Government. We have to make our case more effectively that Big Government programs hurt everyone economically, socially, and in other ways, and form an agenda that helps us move from Big Government to limited government.

[Alberta's Child]

Mitt Romney has proposed in Massachusetts that health insurance be made universal by making it mandatory.

The fact that an initiative as intrusive and totalitarian in nature as this one has been promoted by a Republican governor and lauded by a so-called "conservative" publication is irrefutable proof that the conservative movement has completely unraveled in this country.

[razorback-bert]

They have identified the problems, but I don't think they have the best solutions.

[Seizure]

"The third possibility - and the best, both for the party and country as a whole - would be to take the "big-government conservatism" vision that George W. Bush and Karl Rove have hinted at but failed to develop, and give it coherence and sustainability."

First, I have known a number of people who have been employed at Wal-Mart as well as some who shop there. A majority of those people received social services, either because of "need" or simply access to the system due to race. I do not object to the Republican Party embracing the lower middle class, of which I am a member. I was under the impression, though, that working people (regardless of how little income) who are concerned about having the government squeeze their wallet and intrude upon their lives were already members of the party.

This strategy would end any "conservative" principles within the Republican party and it's platform. This is another measure that, if taken, would be a ploy to buy votes. Could it be that the party is trying to stem the flow of blood as disappointed and disaffected conservatives head for third parties? The Republican party could no longer distinguish itself from Democrat-lite.

With Hillary Clinton having religious experiences and talking about family values and Republicans talking about embracing the Great Society, we will at last be united...

under one party.

[TAdams8591]

marking

[RightWhale]

The solution is private property, nationwide recording. The rest of this is secondary.

[fallujah-nuker]

This may be of interest.

[Sam Cree]

I got tired of reading the article after a while, but it looked like it was calling for somethig along the lines of "Republican socialism."

Only better organized than W's version of it.

W does seem unfocused these days.

[A. Pole]

Unsurprisingly, the core of the GOP's support turns out to be drawn from "Enterprisers," affluent, optimistic, and staunchly conservative on economic and social issues alike. But the so-called Enterprisers represent just 11 percent of registered voters--and apart from them, the most reliable GOP voters are Social Conservatives (13 percent of registered voters) and Pro-Government Conservatives (10 percent of voters). Both groups are predominantly female(Enterprisers are overwhelmingly male); both are critical of big business; and both advocate more government involvement to alleviate the economic risks faced by a growing number of families. They tend to be hostile to expanding free trade, Social Security reform, and guest-worker proposals --which is to say the Bush second term agenda

Women are putting the interest of their families before the interest of big business owners? How unwise of them.

[ARCADIA]

A second option is to attempt a return to a purer, more fiscally austere faith, even if it means ceding political power, and wait for the looming entitlement crisis to convince Americans of the wisdom of repealing the New Deal.

I believe that that would certainly pursuade the majority of Americans to tax the snot out of the 11% "Enterpriser" class; in order to work through the "entitlement crisis". Irresponsible policy leads to irresponsible results; turn your back on the electorate and the electorate will bite you in the butt.

[Clintonfatigued]

I'm beginning to wonder if Compassionate Conservativism is a code word for Big Government Conservativism.

Beauracracies are by nature inefficient and wasteful, regardless of their directors' ideology.