rtwngAvngr
Senior Member
- Jan 5, 2004
- 15,755
- 513
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- Banned
- #41
Bush has been spending a lot. He had to do it to triangulate away the old people vote so we could maintain control during the war on terror. We couldn't risk a lib in charge right now, so we had to pander. And thanks to you libs perpetuating the entitlement attitude, the way to pander is to give people stuff.Mariner said:But you keep missing my point: Subtract those wars. Subtract Homeland Security. Subtract payments and costs related to 9/11. You're still left with a larger gov't under "never saw a spending bill I didn't love to sign" Bush than you had under Clinton. The latest lovely budget, from this past weekend, included 1000s of pork barrel gifts, e.g. $2 million to the owner of Sequoia, the private Presidential yacht, which even its owner didn't expect, per the Wall Street Journal today. WSJ's editorial called Bush's stand on the recent budget bill "non-leadership." Note that WSJ is a conservative-leaning editorial page. They're getting tired of him as the dollar heads down--7 year low today against major currencies, which caused the stock market to give up its entire 2004 gain last Friday. A falling dollar places our future ability to borrow for wars and other programs that we refuse to pay for ourselves (via taxes) in jeapardy.
Re: A weak dollar. This is no problem, our exports will increase and we'll have more jobs. Cool.
7. My bigger point: imagine conservatism/liberalism as a football field. An extremely conservative America, with prayer in the public schools, tax support for religious schools (including, presumably Muslim ones), minimal government, and minimal or no gov't safety net (not sure where all those homeless, poor elderly, and ill people would go...) is your goal line. An extremely socialist America, with 40% tax rates, massively redistributive taxation, a cushy safety net, fantastic environmental standards and workplace safety, and a large middle class (but small poor and wealthy classes) etc. is some more-liberal-than-me Cambridge liberal's utopia. I'd say we're somewhere around my 40 yard line. I'd be happier if we moved the ball to my 30. You might be happier moving it to the 50. But both of us would be more liberal than nearly anyone in, say, 1910. That's what I mean when I say we're just talking about how liberal to be, rather than in black and white terms whether liberalism or conservatism are right or wrong.
Mariner.
Yes. It's on a swinging pendulum. Back and forth. be patient my son. This too shall pass. Go to sleep.