Please identify the writer by political tendency if not by name:
"But Federal spending has increased by 23.7 percent since Bush took office.
There are more non-defense-related federal employees than ever before.
Education has been further federalized...
Bush pulled out all the stops to get Congress to create the biggest new entitlement program - prescription drug coverage for Medicare - in 40 years.
He's proposed an energy bill that Jerry Taylor describes as 'a smorgasbord of handouts and subsidies for virtualy eveyr energy lobby in Washignton.'
And then, of course, there's John Aschcroft's USA PATRIOT Act and the unprecedented expansion of federal law enforcement and surveillance powers..."
The author is David Boaz. The words come from his editorial in the CATO Policy Report (Jan/Feb 2004). CATO is a libertarian-conservative think tank. Boaz edits the Report.
It's worth noting that Boaz goes on to indict the Republican-led Congress and the Democrats, too, for promoting big government. He concludes that the problem is the "permanent ruling class," that the US needs term limits and a "more open, dynamic campaign finance system" to bring back "limited government."
I enjoy this Libertarian criticism of President Bush, but I do not think it carries much political weight. Having read CATO material for years, I know they take regular potshots at corporate welfare. But that is not what they are about. funded by Wall Street and wealthy individuals, they are about destroying the New Deal in the service of the "free market."
When the chips are down, they will support Bush despite what they consider his errors.
PS I have no idea who Jerry Taylor is, but his characterization of Pete Domenici's energy bill rings a bell with me.
PPS I have an idea that a more "open, dynamic campaign finance system" would free corporations and the richest Americans to give as much as they want to candidates so long as they do so publically.
I would prefer total public financing of all campaigns for federal office, but Boaz is correct in rejecting the current system.
What do you think?