The Republicans Were Never the Party of Small Government
by Chris Edelson

The Republican party of the past 30 years has not been very good at governing. Recent Republican presidents have left a legacy of huge budget deficits, irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy, and terrible foreign policy miscalculations, from Reagan’s misguided decision to embrace the mujahideen in Afghanistan (who included Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri in their ranks) as “freedom fighters” to GW Bush’s many failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

One things Republicans have been great at is messaging. They managed to create the impression that GW Bush, who never went to Vietnam, was beyond reproach while his rival, a decorated veteran, was some kind of Jane Fonda loving traitor. They have created a still-standing myth that Republicans have always stood for “small government”, despite the fact that Reagan ran up mammoth deficits and led a party that called for government to tell women what to do with their bodies.

The “small government” myth persists, and the media laps it up. This morning on MSNBC, Chuck Todd solemnly intoned that (I am paraphrasing”): Republicans know they have gotten away from their small government roots over the last 8 years, and they are looking to get back to the days of Reagan.  What small government roots?  Reagan loved to bash government, but he didn’t rein it in, he spent like mad on the programs he preferred (e.g. the military) and irresponsibly left a deficit for his successors to deal with.

The Republicans want to tell a story that Bush was an aberration, that this party once stood for something that sounds good. It’s simply not true. The fact that the Republicans have consistently supported cutting taxes for the wealthy does not make them a party of small government. The party’s positions on abortion, LGBT rights, warrantless surveillance, and torture has rightly caused many libertarians to abandon the party.

Many of us know this suggestion that Republicans are looking to “return” to their small government roots is just another talking point. But if media types like Chuck Todd accept this claim at face value, then Republicans may have a chance to revive their brand, which is the most they can hope for given that they are utterly out of substantive ideas.

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