Limited government people... great Jon Stewart quote!

[mirrera]

Thought of this today.
John Stewart to Lou Dobbs " It feels like all the people that want limited government, really just want government limited to republicans"

[harun]

1. I've been thinking a lot about their "limited gov't" meme lately.

I was reading "The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom" and it starts right off with the explicit premise of "limited gov't" being a good thing and the whole rest of the book/discussion/analysis is based on this.

I don't think politics in this country can be healthy until we address this meme with the GOP. Specifically what they mean by it, then why they CANNOT have it. Until we get them off of being stuck on thinking a government of that envisioned by James Madison, we can never work towards a common good with them.

They say they want "limited gov't" but what they really want is unlimited privilege for the rich thus achieving implicit unlimited privilege for the big corporations.

I think we need to have this debate with them. We live in a country of > 300 million people. To think we can go back to a Federal gov't that regulates nothing but state to state commerce is hogwash. The hardships that would purport on the masses is substantial and unacceptable. Not to mention the hypocrisy of their unlimited support of now using our income taxes to fund endless war and empire.

They can't have their "limited gov't" cake and then support giving the President free passes to go to war without Congress voting on it. More hypocrisy.

Dem's should debate this out with them and make them get the hell over this meme. They will just sit there and say "no" to all Progress in this nation until we do.

[Chulanowa]

2. You've got it right

The "limited government" stuff back in the day was the product of a system that only served a limited electorate. When your only constituents are white males with $350 ($5,000 today) worth of property (meaning land or business, not "stuff in my tent) then you can afford to be a limited government