E.J. Dionne: "Small Government" Talk is Just Rhetoric

babylonsister

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Thu Jan-06-11 08:05 AM
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E.J. Dionne: "Small Government" Talk is Just Rhetoric

"Small Government" Talk is Just Rhetoric
By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Edmund Burke, one of history's greatest conservatives, warned that abstractions are the enemy of responsible government.

"I never govern myself, no rational man ever did govern himself, by abstractions and universals," Burke wrote. "A statesman differs from a professor in a university; the latter has only the general view of society; the former, the statesman, has a number of circumstances to combine with those general ideas."

Alas for all of us and for American conservatism in particular, the new Republican majority that took control of the House on Wednesday is embarked on an experiment in government by abstractions. Many in its ranks pride themselves on being practical business people, but they behave as professors in thrall to a few thrilling ideas.

Their rhetoric is nearly devoid of talk about solving practical problems -- how to improve our health care, education and transportation systems, or how to create more middle-class jobs.

more...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/01/06/small_government_talk_is_just_rhetoric.html

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Tansy_Gold

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Thu Jan-06-11 08:13 AM
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1. I generally agree with E.J., but I take issue with this:

Edited on Thu Jan-06-11 08:14 AM by Tansy_Gold

And paradoxically, because Obama is a former professor himself, he may be especially well-suited to call the bluff of the new professoriate in Congress. He knows better than most the dangers posed by an excessive devotion to abstractions.

I personally haven't seen any evidence that Obama even recognizes the dangers posed by excessive devotion to abstractions. It seems to be he's been excessively devoted to the abstraction of bipartisanship and hasn't been able to see the damage done by his unwillingness to stand up to his -- and our -- domestic enemies.

But that's just my opinion. . . .

TG, TT

(typo, duh)

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ljm2002

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Thu Jan-06-11 10:46 AM
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2. "But journalists surely want to be more than stenographers."

Ha, ha, ha.

Nice sentiment, Mr. Dionne. But on that score you are demonstrably and undeniably wrong, wrong, wrong.

Journalists in this country want above all to be stenographers, so they can reap the benefits of sycophancy and avoid the punishments of truth-telling, both of which are quite real in the current scheme of things.

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craigmatic

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Thu Jan-06-11 11:09 AM
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3. If government is small and leaves a power vaccume you can bet that it'll be filled by corporations.

They really don't want small government anyway. They want passive government on the economy and activist government on their social issues.

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