Bob Barr, writing for The American Conservative on New Era of Big Government:
If someone described for you a national incident involving unprecedented loss of life, poor government planning, the failure to hold any government official accountable for mistakes, and Congress responding to the crisis by throwing money at the problem, chances are you’d conclude they were speaking about the causes and aftermath of 9/11. Actually, they could just as well be describing the siege and invasion of the Branch Davidian Compound at Waco, Texas, in 1993, during President Bill Clinton’s first term.
Now, if that same person were to ask you which recent president’s term in office was characterized by support for the so-called assault weapon ban, a huge increase in deficit spending, bigger budgets for virtually every domestic program—including Americorps and the National Endowment for the Arts—and signing into law a massive increase in federal government regulation of political speech, whose administration would you suspect they were describing? That of Democrat Bill Clinton? Nope. They’d be talking about the first term of Republican President George W. Bush.
The fact is, the records of these two presidents, Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush, are much more alike than either man would likely feel comfortable admitting. With Bill Clinton, a record of Big Government and lack of accountability, which is precisely what we witnessed from 1993 to 2001, was pretty much what most of us expected; we got what we deserved when we elected him president. With George W. Bush, however, what we have gotten is not what we bargained for—that is if we hoped for a president committed, as Bush said he was during the 2000 campaign, to smaller and more accountable government. Has America been betrayed by President George W. Bush? In his most recent book, The Bush Betrayal, James Bovard poses and then answers this question with a resounding “yes.”
Yeah, I know, most of ya’ll have already seen this one. At least the libertarian readers who haven’t been drinking Kool-Aid like an addict. I link to it as an extra special present for the “Thank God, Bush has his mandate, Bush has his mandate!!!” folks as evidence that your Good Ole Boy ain’t all you’ve made him out to be when compared to previous national executives.
Since we are on the subject, let’s cut out this “mandate” busienss. The concept of a “mandate” is simply a PR buzzword utilized by pundits, politicians and their accomplices in-crowd supporters to snow or stifle the opposition and supporters alike (whoever that may be) into believing that the entire nation is demanding whatever he’s serving us. Its not a legally binding concept. Its a public relations gimmick, not a law.
Since I still have your attention, please repeat after me in a less hysterical tone than you normally use when discussing banning homosexual marriage and other topics not conducive or respectful to small government, “Bush is not the messiah, Bush is not the messiah, Bush is not the messiah.” We live in a Constitutional Republic, not a theocracy. Now start believing it, while you still have time to ponder such thoughts. It also probably wouldn’t hurt to stock up on duct tape and water. I hear the sabers rattling for Syria. Better get your boys down to see the recruiter while you’re visiting your local military surplus store to stock up on MREs.
And stop drinking that sugary sweet mess. It’ll rot your teeth out.
Link courtesy of DC Collins via Yahoo! Groups – Libertarian.