Thursday, September 22, 2005
What Is Compassionate Conservatism
Brendan Miniter got a little beathless this week at OpinionJournal claiming that Republicans have left conservatives behind.
Should these things become a way of life, then they are a problem. This conservative for example, has no problem many of the depression era programs of FDR that became the welfare state, it's just that they should have been dismantled during the war. The key to conservativism in this instance is not the response to Katrina, but the response to the response. If, three years from now in the '08 presidential election cycle, when recovery is well under way Republicans run on a platform that these moves have done their job and it is time to dismantle them -- no problem. Some, no doubt, should be dismantled even before the election. The public wants these things right now, and that will benefit Republicans in '06.
The other thing is in this instance, speed matters. "Purely" conservatice response proposals would meet opposition from the Dems that care little for anything but thier own politics. While, given majorities, the Republicans would prevail, this is no time for a debate. Better to do what you have to to get united action and fix things later.
Sometimes, in a crisis, you throw money at a problem -- it really is the short term solution, even for conservatives. It's paying the debt incurred that is defining.
What President Bush, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other Republicans haven't figured out yet is that deficit spending isn't a problem for them unless it endangers the broader conservative agenda. If it does, it will become the electoral issue. And what we're seeing is that Katrina is swamping every goal conservatives have, from limiting government to cutting taxes to reforming entitlement programs. Katrina spending has already imperiled plans to repeal the death tax, and Congress is already $60 billion into a spending binge. Handing out $2,000 debit cards was just the beginning. The conservative Congress has brought back the welfare state.I have no credentials with which to enter this debate, but I've never let that stop me before. Conservatives, particularly "compassionate" conservatives, are not adverse to things like this is the wake of an extraordinary tragedy like Katrina.
Should these things become a way of life, then they are a problem. This conservative for example, has no problem many of the depression era programs of FDR that became the welfare state, it's just that they should have been dismantled during the war. The key to conservativism in this instance is not the response to Katrina, but the response to the response. If, three years from now in the '08 presidential election cycle, when recovery is well under way Republicans run on a platform that these moves have done their job and it is time to dismantle them -- no problem. Some, no doubt, should be dismantled even before the election. The public wants these things right now, and that will benefit Republicans in '06.
The other thing is in this instance, speed matters. "Purely" conservatice response proposals would meet opposition from the Dems that care little for anything but thier own politics. While, given majorities, the Republicans would prevail, this is no time for a debate. Better to do what you have to to get united action and fix things later.
Sometimes, in a crisis, you throw money at a problem -- it really is the short term solution, even for conservatives. It's paying the debt incurred that is defining.
