Conservatives' Big Lie About Wanting Smaller Government

For years, we've been hearing conservatives talk about wanting smaller government and returning to the kind of country the Founding Fathers envisioned.  Let's put aside the fact that the world the Founding Fathers envisioned was one where blacks were three-fifths of a human being and women did not have the right to vote.  But if conservatives really wanted smaller government, the budget would decrease when they have control of the Congress and the White House.  Instead, because of tax cuts for the rich and drastic increases to the defense budget because of no-bid contracts and military engagements (i.e., wars), the expenses always increase.  What conservatives really mean is that they don't want government payments to go to "those people" -- blacks, browns and low-income people -- who they consider to be undeserving.

That's why when they are asked what items they would cut from the budget, conservatives never have a good answer.  They first take the largest chunks of the budget off the table -- Social Security, Medicare, defense spending and entitlements.  This leaves only about 15% of the budget, which they call "discretionary spending."  Then they make wild, irresponsible statements saying that they would eliminate entire departments, such as the Education Department or the Energy Department.  They know this is simply not going to happen, but they really don't want anything to happen anyway.  Their whole objective is to create a strawman, a phantom, a villain, a culprit who is responsible for the runaway spending.  Of course, they are not the culprits, even though, again, the runaway spending happens under their watch as well as the Democrats.

I am continually amazed that the Republicans take no responsibility for what goes on in the government, even when they are in power.  They blame everything on the Democrats and the Dems have, at best, a tepid response. 

I guess the GOP uses this tactic because it works for them.  Their beloved constituency of "working class whites" doesn't seem to have a problem with low wages and high unemployment in their communities, as long as blacks and browns aren't benefiting from any government programs.  Once they perceive that there could be (not IS, but could be) any benefit to blacks or browns, they cry for smaller government. 

It's the height of hypocrisy, but this attitude is leading to an increasing polarization of our politics to the point where I don't know if the government will be able to solve any genuine problems in the future.  The underlying conundrum of race continues to haunt us.