Angry Voters - USA Today
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 16th, 2008 4:28 am by HL
The GOP’s Ideas Deficit
WASHINGTON — The Reagan era in American politics is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise. In this respect, it doesn’t matter who wins the Democratic nomination or even who wins the general election in the fall. I was going to try to write this column without using the word “paradigm,” but already I’ve failed: Regardless of who takes the oath of office in January, the paradigm that reigned for nearly three decades — the notion that government is useless, if not inherently evil — is no longer operative. All three of the remaining presidential candidates propose a far more activist role for government. Even John McCain, who tells conservatives he’s a Reagan disciple, proposes far-reaching government action on issues such as climate change, high energy prices and the mortgage crisis — problems that are supposedly better left to the cruel genius of free markets, according to the old paradigm that Bush has pushed to absurd extremes.
