Saturday, May 23, 2009

The Irony of Conservative Success

Recently the people of California have decided to vote "no" to the tax proposals needed to balance the state's budget. As a result, the governor, noted badass, is about to make massive cuts to the state budget especially to programs like education and health care. While many people often fight efforts to increase funding to social programs claiming more funding doesn't necessarily help such social programs, I would love to see the argument that proves less funding can do anything but hurt it.


Conservative political ideology, in the post goldwater era at least, is centered on the belief that smaller government and lower taxes will always help society. In an indirect way, that is the case. The more state level governments cut back on our most basic societal needs the more the public is going to look to the federal government for help.


Once upon a time people looked at the rates of poverty in seniors and found that it just wasn't right for people who were productive their whole lives to have to live in poverty, as a result social security was passed. as a result the rates of poverty among seniors plummeted and now a day even archetypal libertarian conservatives (hello Joe the Plumber) will not touch social security. Social welfare programs started under Johnson's Great society in the 60's have proven just as long lasting and successful. Medicare and Welfare have provided societal needs that conservatives fought hard to ignore.

Fighting social programs is a lot like digging your way out of quicksand. Our country was founded with a small federal presence and over the past two centuries people have had to fight over just about every service the federal government now provides. The more successful conservatives have been at defeating social programs the deeper in the hole we get and the bigger the need becomes.

For those reasons i just wanted to thank conservatives for all they do on a day to day basis to help their country! I certainly recognize the need to have a political faction that tries to cut the port and excess out of federal programs, but ill never understand why that faction can't make its arguments with respect for an honest political debate. I would have a lot more respect for conservatives if their arguments against obamacare demanded action on medicare fraud, the underfunded and mistreated VA, or thousands of people who have health insurance coverage but go bankrupt anyway due to the inability of private insurance providers to have a soul.