Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brough Down the Republican RevolutionFor conservatives generally and the Republican Party in particular, 2006 was a time of intense soul-searching. For the first time in a dozen years, Republicans lost control of Congress. As a result, they are being forced to reexamine who they are and what they stand for. It’s about time. After all, more than a decade has passed since President Bill Clinton announced in his State of the Union address that “the era of big government is over.” Yet, since then, government has grown far bigger and far more intrusive. It spends more, regulates us more, and reaches far more into our daily lives than it did before the Republican Revolution. Behind this alarming trend stands the rise of a new brand of conservatism—one that believes big government can be used for conservative ends. It is a conservatism that ridicules F. A. Hayek and Barry Goldwater while embracing Teddy and even Franklin Roosevelt. It has more in common with Ted Kennedy than with Ronald Reagan. Leviathan on the Right provides an incisive analysis of the roots and core beliefs of big-government conservatism and the major currents that fueled its growth—neoconservatism, the Religious Right, supply-side economics, national greatness conservatism, and Newt Gingrich–style technophilia—and offers a detailed critique of its policies on a wide range of issues. The book contains a clear warning that, unless conservatives return to their small-government roots, the electoral defeat of 2006 is just the beginning. |
From inside the book
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... tax cuts rather than cutting back the size of government. Indeed, many openly argued that tax cuts would increase government revenues, making expenditure cuts unnecessary. This view meant they could avoid messy debates about the proper ...
... tax cuts in order to grow the economy—not to 'starve the government of revenue.'”166 As Cato president Ed Crane observed: When [U.S. Representatives] Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich, Vin Weber, Connie Mack and the rest discovered Jude Wanniski ...
... tax cuts since Reagan and has steadfastly resisted pressure to increase taxes. His efforts have increased economic growth despite the problems brought about by 9/11. And, in a fulfillment of supply—side theory, tax revenues have risen ...
... cut their own staff, changed budget rules to include a requirement for a three-fifths vote to raise taxes ... tax cuts, civil justice reform, a balanced-budget amendment, and the first efforts at welfare reform.5 But it wasn't ...
... tax cuts permanent or even to address the coming crisis in Social Security."71 In far too many ways, it does. The Intersection of Corruption and Big-Government Conservatism As O'Sullivan's Law (named after Iohn O'Sullivan, former editor ...
Contents
10 National Busybodies | 197 |
DEFINING THE FUTURE | 205 |
11 The SmallGovernment Alternative | 207 |
12 The Coming Debate | 229 |
Notes | 235 |
Index | 301 |
About the Author | 323 |
Cato Institute | 326 |