Why Frum is wrong - Big Government is Still the Problem

David Frum has an interesting article in Newsweek this week called "Why Rush is Wrong." I actually found myself agreeing with Frum for about a page and a half. Rush Limbaugh is not The Leader of the Republican party or the Conservative movement.  And Rush certainly says a lot of stupid things on the air that makes Conservatives (so long as they defend Rush at all times) look bad - e.g. "Michael J. Fox was faking" during his ads for stem cell research.

I also agree stronly with one of his later points, "We need to put free-market health-care reform, not tax cuts, at the core of our economic message."  I would not suggest taking tax cuts out of the platform - as Americans are paying a higher share of income on taxes than in 2002 or in 1990, 1980, or 1970; and they still think taxes are too high, but I certainly agree with the notion that free-market health care reforms are critical.

But here is where Frum really gets off track, complaining that conservatives must get past Reagan and the idea that "Big Government" is the problem.

Here is an example of the writing Limbaugh was complaining about: The conservatism we know evolved in the 1970s to meet a very specific set of dangers and challenges: inflation, slow growth, energy shortages, unemployment, rising welfare dependency. In every one of those problems, big government was the direct and immediate culprit. Roll back government, and you solved the problem.


Government is implicated in many of today's top domestic concerns as well … But the connection between big government and today's most pressing problems is not as close or as pressing as it was 27 years ago. So, unsurprisingly, the anti-big-government message does not mobilize the public the way it once did.

First off, Big Government is largely to blame for the financial meltdown, is to blame for driving up the cost of health care, is to blame for "out-forcing" jobs, and is holding back our economy.

Second, the "anti-big government message has worked, but for Obama and Democrats.   It is Republicans who are now viewed as the "party of big government" and the big spenders/pokers/party of bailouts.  And voters would not be wrong - total government spending as a percent of GDP increased dramatically over the past 8 years.  And voters believed Obama was more likely to cut their taxes.

Conservatives and/or Republicans don't need to "move past" the idea that big government is the problem, they need to actually convince voters that they oppose big government.  Having folks like Rick Santorum attack earmarks by Democrats while saying earmarks by Republicans is just one example of why the GOP is in shambles.  It isn't Rush Limbaugh or the "far right" - but Frum, Bush, Santorum and the like who have abandoned the idea of limited government.