It’s not that government is all bad. Anyone who believes that is either an idiot or an anarchist –- not that there is much difference. Conservatives believe in a firm military to keep them free and place great trust in our servicemen and women. Conservatives also believe in law and order and don’t advocate outsourcing problems to Judge Judy.
Conservatives do believe in government –- just not the uber-state that controls our every move.
Obama’s problem lies in his mindset of relying on government solutions. Government, he’s said, is the only one to get us out of this (fill in the blank) mess. But often, government is the reason we are there in the first place.
Government decided to switch TV from analog to digital. Now that the switch isn’t going well, government has to react to try and fix a problem it created in the first place. That’s the story you won’t find on the evening news.
Instead, we are told capitalism is dead. On October 10 The Washington Post proclaimed “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism.” In its place are big government solutions to, well, just about everything from childhood obesity to environment to the Mother-of-All-Bombs –- the economy.
The media are looking to Obama to take quick, decisive action even if that ends up making things worse. Tomorrow, he’ll be pushing healthcare or theoretical climate change or mandating that we all get a Labradoodle instead of a pit bull.
It’s the mindset that government must protect us from everything. Sure, some problems are just too big to solve on our own. But there’s an ugly hubris to the notion that people who run an enterprise that makes a profit can’t be trusted and those who lurk in government buildings are beyond reproach.
The truth of the matter is both groups can do good things. And both can make horrible mistakes. It’s a lesson for the media and the public. As the static over the digital TV conversion reminds us that, when it comes to government, sometimes less is more.
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