There are many differences between the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States. The Republican Party stands for limited government, personal responsibility, and as low a tax burden on people as possible. The Democratic Party on the other hand, believes in big government, dependency, and the sky’s the limit on taxes.
The Democrats really ought to change their name to what their counterparts in Europe are called, the Social Democrats. Because that’s what they really believe in – socialism. Some Democrat office holders, like Bernie Sanders and AOC and the rest of the squad, are willing to say it out loud, but most Democrats know that’s not where most Americans are, so they’re careful about the language they use, even though the policies they push are clearly consistent with socialism.
And unfortunately they’re having considerable success in this march-to-the-left, a march towards socialism, particularly as they are currently in control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, and all the departments and agencies under the executive branch of government.
They’ve got another thing working in their favor. And that’s that it’s much easier to expand the government, to begin government programs and add bureaucracy, than it is to reduce government. The truth is, once government starts giving away free stuff, it almost never stops the largess. Ronald Reagan once famously said “there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary government program.”
How about a few examples? Okay, Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (which should have been more accurately named the Unaffordable Care Act.) The Dems rammed that tremendously flawed legislation into law the last time they totally controlled the government after Barack Obama was elected.
The Dems went to great lengths arguing that Obamacare was not a tax. Then when it was later litigated, all the way to the US Supreme Court , Chief Justice Roberts (who’s been a HUGE disappointment to conservatives like myself) upheld Obamacare on the basis that it was (drum roll please) – a tax! And although Republicans have been successful in getting rid of some important pieces of Obamacare (the individual mandate and the medical device tax for example) this government takeover of 1/7 of the American economy JUST WILL NOT DIE!
Next, DACA. Democrats have long sought to allow as many illegal immigrants to stay in America as possible (because the overwhelming majority of them eventually vote Democrat.) Some years back there was a push to allow minors brought here illegally by their parents to get legal status. Then President Obama famously said…”this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true… I’m president, I’m not king.” Then he acted like a king, and by executive order initiated DACA, and now this group of illegals were legal.
Since he acted by executive order, and Congress never passed legislation authorizing his action, it could be overturned by the executive order of a succeeding president, right? Well, that’s what Donald Trump tried to do. Everyone assumed that the Supreme Court would affirm President Trump’s action, but good old Chief Justice Roberts stepped in and said “nope,” and DACA remains in place. Yet another example of once a right or a benefit is given, or an expansion of government takes place, they almost never go away.
Going back even further, Jimmy Carter’s federal Department of Education. For 200 years, we didn’t have one. Education had always been considered a state and local issue, not federal. Then in 1976 Jimmy Carter got elected, and supported by a completely Democrat House and Senate, gave the teachers’ unions what they always wanted, their own department, and a pipeline to all that federal money. Now no matter how hard we try, or how bad the department’s been, it’s impossible to get rid of. And those of us over the years who have tried to abolish this department have done so not because we are against education, but because we’re against the federal takeover of education and the mess it’s brought us over the years (most recently, critical race theory.)
Like Ronald Reagan said, “there’s nothing more permanent, than a temporary government program.” See you next week.