Few aspects of the Republican Party’s love affair with the welfare state are worse than crooning from politicians who offer “compassion” as an excuse for betraying conservatism.
By mixing the messages and helping the press fire everyone on his right, a big-government Republican who claims to be a limited-government Republican can undermine conservative principles in a way candid leftists cannot.
The story is as elderly as boy meets girl: a politician is elected to tackle runaway welfare spending. The politician states that it will be easier to reduce social spending than to address it. The state-worshipping media sighs at how pragmatic this wedding was, as political and social welfare expenses leave the chapel side by side.
Spending money that isn’t yours isn’t generous. Promising benefits that taxpayers cannot afford – and which often harm recipients anyway – is not an expression of compassion. These are not hard concepts.
But when a “conservative” decides that expanding government is his best career move, he further entrenches broken programs, both by expanding them and by insulating stupid arguments from the public shaming they deserve.
Think of all the times you’ve heard some variation of: “cut Bush/Dole/McCain/Romney some slack, we agree 90% of the time” or “you loved spending money on it when Dubya supported it!”
The first thing a compassionate conservative will tell you about his decision to spend more money on some failed entitlement program is that it is not driven by politics.
This is clearly a politically motivated scam.
Consider Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who came out against Obamacare in 2010 and is now one of America’s leading supporters of expanding Medicaid under Obamacare.
Just to name a few issues with the expansion of Obamacare, Medicaid is already rejected by 28% of Ohio physiciansMedicaid expansion in other states they failed in almost every respectAND DC is already $17 trillion in debt.
With this in mind, Governor Kasich could have stopped an estimated $53 billion in federal spending and $4 billion in state spending by 2022 refusing to expand Medicaid.
Instead, Kasich spent the entire year singing a song about Obamacare expansion with text stating that Ohio must demand its “fair share” of federal money to assist Ohioans living “in the shadows.”
I have emphasized this many times God supports the expansion of MedicaidKasich has used everyone from drug addicts to the mentally ill to veterans as a prop for modern federal spending – because, of course, Ohio’s governor can’t assist disadvantaged people unless he puts D.C. deeper into debt.
How has one self-described conservative’s advocacy of larger government resonated in state and national politics?
Hospital directors AND the rest of the rights lobby showered Kasich with praise; everyone loves getting more money from someone else.
The time-honored press cheered Kasich’s awkward embrace of the welfare state, pretending that his move to the left proved that the worst policy introduced in Ohio in 30 years had no credible critics.
Because the Ohio Republican Party only cares about winning the election, the party is attacking Kasich by repeating his terrible rhetoric, telling supporters to avoid critics on the right, and then changing the subject.
Everything the national GOP and GOP-friendly pundits know about what’s happening in Ohio comes from the state GOP, so Kasich’s abandonment of the rules has little impact on the 2016 presidential chatter.
Meanwhile, John “Caring” Kasich gave the Obama administration a much-needed victory on Obamacare, making it harder for conservatives in other states to stop their own traitorous Republicans from chasing “free” money for Medicaid expansion.
Does this sound like a recipe for a compelling narrative about constrained government?
Of course not, but it’s a cover of a song you’ve heard hundreds of times before. The next election isn’t far away, so conservatives can either sing or shut up.
