What I do not understand about the Smaller Government popularity...
The Republicans are big on touting the belief that a smaller government will "balance the federal budget and be less publicly invasive". Well, those are certainly popular beliefs, but they are not logical ones. If you do not believe me, history has proven my assertion at least five times in just the last 80 years:
Herbert Hoover-In 1929, Herbert Hoover was elected. His campaign promise was the ever popular "Let's balance the budget!" Everyone said "Great, fabulous! It's not going to do any harm, right?" Well, obviously anyone even remotely familiar with history knows what happened that year. Of course, Hoover was not entirely responsible for the stock market crashing or the proceeding Great Depression. He tried to stop it with federal programs, but when he stuck with his balancing the budget plan, it kept us in a persistent economic Depression, along with other impeding factors.
Ronald Reagan- Ah, yes, every Republican's best friend and hero, Ronald Reagan. He came into office with bold claims of "balancing the budget" and claiming "A new day has dawned in America". Well, maybe for the yuppies of the 1980's, but the fact is more people were unemployed in 1984 than during the Great Depression. Stores were closing by the boatload and probably thousands of homes were being foreclosed upon. Farmers who worked 18 hour days actually owed money, instead of the opposite. Reagan's unwavering pursuit of "balancing the budget" was a big part of the reason for all of this happening.
George H.W. Bush- The first Bush in office, he followed the beloved Reagan and actually managed to start an unjust war that was not approved by Congress, making it illegal. As a result, the economy continued to suffer. More businesses closed, people lost their jobs, then they were kicked out of their homes because they could not afford to pay their mortgages.
George H. Bush- For eight long years, he was in office continuing the illegal war his father started. There were two recessions during his term, one in 2001 and the still occurring recession. Of course, there were other people and decisions playing roles there, but he did not do much to stop either one. He also touted this belief of "balancing the budget", but the trillion dollar Iraq War certainly stands in the way of that. There's also the fact that Social Security has dwindled down to almost nothing partially because of Bush's decisions.
Someone wise once said, "Those who fail history are doomed to repeat it". I am not saying that a bigger government is a perfect system or we should not balance the budget, but we need to do that responsibly. People should not have to lose their jobs to achieve balancing the budget. No one could ever accuse bigger government of being responsible for causing a recession or depression. Obviously, the same can not be said for a smaller government.
Herbert Hoover-In 1929, Herbert Hoover was elected. His campaign promise was the ever popular "Let's balance the budget!" Everyone said "Great, fabulous! It's not going to do any harm, right?" Well, obviously anyone even remotely familiar with history knows what happened that year. Of course, Hoover was not entirely responsible for the stock market crashing or the proceeding Great Depression. He tried to stop it with federal programs, but when he stuck with his balancing the budget plan, it kept us in a persistent economic Depression, along with other impeding factors.
Ronald Reagan- Ah, yes, every Republican's best friend and hero, Ronald Reagan. He came into office with bold claims of "balancing the budget" and claiming "A new day has dawned in America". Well, maybe for the yuppies of the 1980's, but the fact is more people were unemployed in 1984 than during the Great Depression. Stores were closing by the boatload and probably thousands of homes were being foreclosed upon. Farmers who worked 18 hour days actually owed money, instead of the opposite. Reagan's unwavering pursuit of "balancing the budget" was a big part of the reason for all of this happening.
George H.W. Bush- The first Bush in office, he followed the beloved Reagan and actually managed to start an unjust war that was not approved by Congress, making it illegal. As a result, the economy continued to suffer. More businesses closed, people lost their jobs, then they were kicked out of their homes because they could not afford to pay their mortgages.
George H. Bush- For eight long years, he was in office continuing the illegal war his father started. There were two recessions during his term, one in 2001 and the still occurring recession. Of course, there were other people and decisions playing roles there, but he did not do much to stop either one. He also touted this belief of "balancing the budget", but the trillion dollar Iraq War certainly stands in the way of that. There's also the fact that Social Security has dwindled down to almost nothing partially because of Bush's decisions.
Someone wise once said, "Those who fail history are doomed to repeat it". I am not saying that a bigger government is a perfect system or we should not balance the budget, but we need to do that responsibly. People should not have to lose their jobs to achieve balancing the budget. No one could ever accuse bigger government of being responsible for causing a recession or depression. Obviously, the same can not be said for a smaller government.