A Republican's Socialism

I'm not sure how many times I've heard Republicans and neocons refer to Obama and Democrats as socialists this election cycle. It seems like daily. Here's more from Hanson's list on how to fix the Republican Party:

...Obama's alternatives to the above would be to turn toward more government, higher taxes, more bureacracies, more dependence of the individual upon the state, etc. And I can't believe the public wants a prescription that historically simply doesn't work.

[...]

Moving toward a lite version of the Obamian/European "bipartisan"and socialist view of government and calling it a new conservatism is a prescription for utter disaster.


Yes more government is something only belonging to Democrats. It was fine when George Bush increased the size of government and it was not a problem at all when Reagan raised taxes and it seems to have been no big deal when George Bush created the Department of Homeland Security making the individual more dependent upon the state, etc. And I can't believe the Republicans haven't caught on that no matter how many times they keep telling themselves that they are the party of small government and individual responsibility they haven't discovered they are historically simply anything but.

The last time the size of the federal government shrank it was under a Democratic president. The last time there was a tax rate that produced a surplus and allowed for unprecedented economic growth it was under a Democratic president. Suggesting that Obama wants to move towards a socialist view of government is being ignorant to the last 8 years of George Bush.

What's sad is that Hanson is supposed to be some sort of law professor at Tennessee if I'm not mistaken. And he's absolutely and intellectually wrong when conveniently leaving out Bush's socialist government and wrong to state that Obama wants to move toward socialism. If Republicans want to chide socialism, they needn't look very far to find it.

Voting twice for a president who has done nothing but increase the overall size of government and done nothing but make the individual more dependent upon the state is okay as long as the president is a Republican. But if not, then socialism again becomes a concern of the Republican Party.