Fact 1: George W. Bush, whom Republicans worshiped back in the year 2000, who campaigned on a pledge to reduce the size of government, became the biggest big-government president in American history (outside of FDR during the Great Depression and WWII). He was the first president to introduce $2 trillion, and later $3 trillion annual federal budgets(!).
Even big-government Obama didn’t increase spending nearly as much as Republican George W. Bush.
Fact 2: Federal spending grew more under Republicans George W. Bush and the lionized Ronald Reagan than under “socialist” Obama. Take a look at this:
Anyone who’s read this blog for a while knows that I utterly hated Obama as president for a myriad of reasons. It’s true that Obama was a big-government guy and spent a hell of a lot of money, increasing spending in certain years, but even he can’t hold a candle to George W. Bush whom Republicans were very enthusiastic about back in 2000, nor Ronald Reagan who, to this very day, Republicans worship as a saint.
The track record of who Republicans put into office is horrible beyond belief, even as measured by their own standards. This can only mean one of two things:
Either:
1. Republicans are stupid.
or
2. Republicans don’t really want small government. They actually want big government, just a slightly different flavor of big government than progressives desire.
Years ago, I came to the conclusion that it’s the latter; Republicans hate small government just as much as Democrats/liberals/progressives. I used to say that we have two ideologies that rule the USA; one that hates small government, and another one that only wants small government in some hypothetical fantasy future that will never happen. “Look, when all the terrorists in the world are dead and when no one on Earth wants to do any drugs, THEN we can talk about small government, but until then, we’ve got to be realistic.”
“Realistic” in Republicanspeak means big government. Just look at federal spending under Republican presidents and Congresses for more details.
This brings us to the Republicans’ latest choice to rule over us, Donald Trump, a dishonest authoritarian with zero emotional control who supports government health care, hates freedom of speech, and is terrified that you might find out what’s in his tax returns. Is he for small government?
To be fair, we don’t know for sure yet. As always with politicians (and with women), we have to ignore what they say or promise and only make our judgments based on what they do. Since Trump has only been president for three months, I can’t say definitively if he’s a big government guy or not. I can make some guesses but I can’t make definitive statements. Yet.
Certainly he has proposed some budget cuts and passed some executive orders that point in the small government direction and make a libertarian like me very happy. At the same time, he’s also spent a shitload of money, killed a lot of innocent civilians[*][*], and called for massive increases in other areas. (Particularly the military; Just like Obama before him, Trump is apparently going to continue the Dick Cheney Neocon Empire. That’s just great.)
When I realized Trump was going to be our next president, my guess was that he’ll be another George W. Bush. He’ll do a few things right (like cut taxes, etc) and do a shitload of things wrong. He’ll cut a little over here and massively increase spending over there, resulting in a net spending increase.
Based on his current behavior, and based on the last several Republican presidents, I still think this will happen. I could be wrong, but I think the odds of this are well in my favor.
(Of course, this assumes that Trump actually rides out his four or eight years without getting impeached or otherwise forcibly removed from office. Earlier, I considered that possibility as less than 2% and thus irrelevant. However, with more of his inner circle being outed as traitors and criminals, I’ve raised those prospects to at least 10%. This could increase with time as more corruption in the Trump administration sees the light of day. As I said before, Trump is corrupt. Just because the Lizard Queen was corrupt doesn’t mean Trump isn’t.)
Back on Election Day I made these four predictions, that 10 years from now:
1. The US will have even more debt, both governmental and private (unless Trump somehow defaults on the US federal debt).
2. The US federal government will be spending even more money.
3. The US economy will not be improved significantly from 2016 levels.
4. The flood of incoming third world immigrants will continue at more or less current rates, and they will continue to receive taxpayer funded government services.
The odds are overwhelming that I’m going to be right… and if you’re a Republican, you probably like big government, so you probably won’t mind.
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Leave your comment below, but be sure to follow the Five Simple Rules.
Eldm
Posted at 04:57 pm, 26th March 2017Quick and fast rule: They’re all liars and thieves until proven otherwise – your team included.
Currently going through this book: https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/1610391845/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490569929&sr=8-1&keywords=dictators+handbook
Paul Murray
Posted at 07:30 pm, 26th March 2017The big, #1, main error that americans make when thinking about government is focusing on the president. Americans view their president like the primitives saw their God-Kings. It’s a side-show to distract americans from what’s really important.
Far more interesting that correlating increase of debt to presidential terms is correlating it to which party held majorities in congress at the time. It’s congress and it’s labyrinthine committees that actually write and vote on the budget.
Americans – if you care about politics, start by finding out who your local congresscritter is and what their policies are. The mid-terms are far more important than who gets to be the talking head in the White House.
CrabRangoon
Posted at 12:10 pm, 27th March 2017Glad you pointed this out. I’m getting just as annoyed with Republicans these days. They’re all the same, they just want to spend our money in different ways. The right wants huge defense spending, the left wants huge entitlement spending, etc… The never ending taxpayer till keeps them fat and happy, never mind most of this spending is not good for business. It’s all about the feels now-feeling safe and secure, feeling like you’re helping the downtrodden. Last I checked the poverty level hasn’t budged much over the last several decades and we still have lunatics out there trying to blow us up. But yea keep throwing more money at all this since it’s worked so well.
joelsuf
Posted at 12:55 pm, 28th March 2017“Trump is apparently going to continue the Dick Cheney Neocon Empire. That’s just great.”
See, this is why I like CJ (and other minarchists/anarchists) so much. They see through ALL the stupid horseshit. And now both sides support imperialism. Sad part is, I’ve known this kind of stuff since high school and people thought I legitimately needed to be placed in a nuthouse. Joke’s on them, I’ll be the happier one in the end.
When I tell people that even if Sanders won in a landslide he would have ALSO continued the Cheney Neocon Empire I get some strange looks. We’re locked in. Not much we can do about it now.
A Man
Posted at 05:35 pm, 28th March 2017We have to put this in the context of the choices we are given. You realistically have a choice between a horrible Democrat and a slightly less horrible Repub. Nobody really is FOR Republicans. People who vote Repub are anti Democrat. I know dam well that every Repub is still gonna advocate big govt policies. But at least they TALK about lower taxes and small govt. Dems won’t even acknowledge the topic. The only reason that Paul Ryan’s Obama care replacement didn’t pass was that there were a few Repubs who balked at having govt more involved in healthcare. Dems would never do that.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 05:48 pm, 28th March 2017That’s not an excuse. Technically speaking, via the primaries, voters could elect a real small government Republican like Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Gary Johnson (in 2012), etc, or a true small government conservative like Pat Buchanan. But you Republicans never do that.
I realize the elites are against you on this, but you could still do it if you really wanted to; you guys chose Trump in the primaries when the elites were clearly against it and you clearly had other options.
Utterly irrelevant and you know it.
Trumpcare would not have been a victory for anyone wanting small government. It would be one big government program replacing another. Trump has been on the record numerous times saying he wants government to make sure no one goes without health insurance.
Stork
Posted at 08:54 am, 29th March 2017Caleb, you actually think the US will still exist in ten years? I feel like some movement of secession is long overdue.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 03:11 pm, 29th March 2017Of course. In 20 and 30 years too.
But 40 or 80 years? Probably not.
1. As I said here:
https://calebjonesblog.com/how-bad-will-it-get-what-exactly-will-happen/
…secession is a possibility and would be a wonderful thing, but the odds of it happening are very low. Americans are too lazy and dependent, and just don’t have those kinds of balls these days.
2. Just because there is secession doesn’t mean the US won’t exist anymore. It will still be there, dysfunctional and slowly collapsing as ever.
Jeff S
Posted at 05:56 am, 31st March 2017Caleb, I would love to see a post where you examine Trumps actions so far and tell us what you like and dont like. I always learn something from your perspectives.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 09:59 am, 31st March 2017You can go here:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/here-s-full-list-donald-trump-s-executive-orders-n720796
…and see all of Trump’s executive orders so far, which is a US history record in terms of how many he’s doing.
The ones that try to make government smaller, I love. The ones that make it bigger or more intrusive, I hate. There’s a lot of both.