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Thoughts from San Diego on Law, Politics, and Culture
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December 01, 2003
Big Government Conservatism without the Conservatism By Tom Smith Just a little comment on Professor Rappaport's interesting post below on neo-cons versus economic conservatives: It helps to think of the neo-cons as not being either neo or conservatives. They are capable of being right on foreign policy, but not necessarily consistently. On domestic policy, they really believe in a big nanny state, they just want nanny to have a firm, upright, moral character. And I agree, if you have a nanny. Personally, I would not let a neo-con take care of my dog. This is because he would spend all his time on the phone or e-mail, trying to line up his next inside the beltway sinecure, while my beloved Biscuit's stomach grumbled. Thus they illustrate what the framers understood, that human nature is such that no one, not even a neo-conservative weenie, can be trusted with much power, which is why limited government is such a good idea. However, I would be willing to let them start a charter school somewhere in the country where they could wear kneesocks, cane each other to their heart's content and give speeches about how deep they are. As to "act like the governing party." Allow me to translate. This means, "I have a PhD in Government from Harvard and no prospect of an academic job. I do not want to go to law school, and 'I should have power because I'm smarter and better than you' doesn't cut it in the private sector. Hence, I need to govern, as my reading of the Republic tells me I should. To govern, I must spend heaps of other people's money buying votes for my guy, who happens to be Bush. I tell all my liberal friends in Cambridge that Bush is a rube so they will like me and maybe someday I will have a girlfriend. There is a profound philosophical justification for all of this you could not hope to understand. Now please take your dog as I have an important call to make." A neo-conservative is a liberal democrat who doesn't care about equality and likes a strong military, because he likes power. Appealing, no? |