America needs a small government party
Despite railing against the Deep State for eight years, Trump's policy proposals would strengthen and grow it.
Do you remember the 1994 election, which gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years? That ushered in new leadership that sought to return authority over domestic policy to the states. The biggest accomplishment of that Republican Congress was a budget surplus. The 2010 Tea Party wave brought more Republicans to Washington with a renewed emphasis on shrinking the federal government.
That is a distant memory now, despite the unfounded fears of a "Project 2025" agenda being embraced by President Trump. Trump has changed the Republican Party into a big government party, with one major (and very welcome) exception: An instinctive reluctance to engage in foreign wars. Beyond the loss of blood and treasure in foreign military adventures, history shows us that the biggest encroachments on our liberty is during time of war.
But Trump's domestic policy orientation is for a bigger, more active federal government. Some examples:
♣ - Trump wants a federal death penalty for killing police officers, possibly implemented by executive order. This is a bad idea.
♣ - Trump demanded more COVID-19 spending in December 2020, attacking Nancy Pelosi and Democrats for not approving more money.
♣ - Trump proposes federal aid to provide child care. As with all federal programs, this one is bound to metastasize over time.
♣ - Trump increased spending as President, leading to bigger budget deficits and more debt.
♣ - Trump wants a national ban on flag burning, creating a new federal crime.
♣ - Trump wants a federal solution to homelessness, including creating tent cities outside of major metropolitan areas.
♣ - Trump raised import taxes via executive order without Congressional approval, raising prices of imported goods as that is passed onto the consumer. He promises to do it again, raising prices of groceries and electronic devices.
♣ - Trump proposed federal aid to farmers to offset the economic impact of increasing import taxes, expanding the regime of taxing some Americans to give subsidies to others.
♣ - Trump opposes any cuts to federal entitlement programs such as Social Security, despite the fact that those programs are headed toward insolvency and will require significant tax increases to maintain at current levels. Trump claims Republicans who want to reform entitlements are "RINO," which would have been quite a shock to Republicans who took office in 1995 and 2011.
♣ - Trump proposed having the federal government either pay for in vitro fertilization or require insurance companies to pay for it. Where are the conservatives who cheered Hobby Lobby's victory over the ObamaCare birth control mandate on this one?
Republicans have consistently failed to actually decrease the size and scope of government, especially at the federal level. But at least they pretended to want to shrink the government, and a few of them (such as Mike Pence) were actually sincere. For the long term fiscal health of our nation, and to ensure that our liberty is preserved, we need an opposition party that seeks to shrink government, not two parties that will only strengthen the Deep State's reach into our lives.