Thursday, April 08, 2010

Small Government Conservatives Heart Big Government

I keep hearing from liberals that conservatives have different goals in mind for America and really are different from us.  Like this comment at Washington Monthly:
What you don't seem able to understand is that this isn't a debate between two parties which have different visions of how gov't should function. This is a debate between one party with various visions of how gov't should function and one party that wants to see gov't fail. The whole 'drown in a bathtub thing'--that's not just empty talk.
But that's simply untrue.  Because if they really did have a different vision, then why do they have to lie so much?  It's not that they really want people to die for lack of insurance, it's that they truly believe that the free-market is better at this than the government, and imagine that Obama is a socialist who really wants big government for the sake of controlling our lives and ruining our country.

And if they were right about that, I'd agree with them.  It's not that they have a different vision and really want Americans to suffer.  It's that they have a different set of facts than we do, and truly believe that "Obamacare" will make things worse, based upon lies they were told about it. 

And if they really did have a different vision, then they wouldn't have to believe lies.  Fox News would gladly tell them that healthcare in America will improve with Obamacare and they'd still reject it because they don't want healthcare to improve.  But they DO want Americans to have good healthcare, and we know this because they'll proudly tell us that we already have the best healthcare.  Meanwhile, they've been told that Obamacare involves Death Panels. 

They're not rejecting Obama's vision of good healthcare.  They're rejecting Death Panels.  And again, if they were right, I'd agree with them.  So would you.  Nobody wants a death panel killing their grandma.  Similarly, if they knew what was in the law, they'd support it too, because they want America to have the best healthcare.  These aren't differing visions.  We all want the same thing.  We just have different ideas of how that can be achieved, based upon our understanding of reality.

And finally, after eight years of Bush-Cheney and their rubber-stamp Congress, the idea that anyone could suggest that conservatives hate Big Government is a bit scary.  I guess conservatives aren't the only ones who use their own set of facts, truth be damned.  Conservatives have no problem with Big Government, just as long as they're the ones in control of the government.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

If I were not already married to a brain man, I would propose marriage (the sacred and holy blah blah blah).
I bow low in awe of your observational abilities.I am quite boring in person,not that I am otherwise facinating. I must apologize in advance and for past abuses of punctuation,spelling,etc.

Unknown said...

If I were not already married to a brain man,I would propose marriage
(the sacred and holy blah blah blah)
I bow low in awe of your observational abilities.I am quite boring in person,not that I am otherwise facinating.I must apologize in advance and for past abuses of punctuation, spelling,etc.I tend to be lazy, slow,elderly and infirm.I think that about covers it. Let me know if I missed anything .I probably posted this more than once another flaw I am barely able to communicate online.

Doctor Biobrain said...

I'm actually ridiculously interesting in person, to the point that I sometimes get embarrassed when people point out how interesting I am. But that comes at the cost of sometimes saying things that really offend the people I'm talking to. Not that they should be offended, as I never mean to offend, but people who like to be offended are sure to find something offensive once my mouth gets going; particularly as I'm a big guy with a loud voice, which is apparently a turn-off for some. That's why I only like to go to parties where I don't know anyone, so I don't have to worry about the repercussions of what I've said.

And no worries about grammar. I try to be good about it, as poor grammar turns some people off. But it's something I usually don't notice.