Conservatism, Um, Evolving

摘要

By the time the conservatives running Congress and this conservative president are done doing what they think will win the next election, tweezers may be needed to pick up the remnants of conservatism as traditionally understood. Time was, Republicans disdained the political formula supposedly voiced by FDR's aide Harry Hopkins: "Tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect." Now Republicans have amended the formula with an audacity that would make the most ardent New Dealer blush. The Republican recipe for "elect and elect" is: Tax cuts. Fine. They have carried the economy through a difficult patch. But there is also unbridled spending. (Federal discretionary spending is up a dizzying 26 percent in two years.) Plus tariffs. Which are taxes on American consumers. The most recent, ostensibly intended to save American jobs, protects Americans from, among other dangers, an inundation of inexpensive Chinese bras.