Even when they try to do the right thing…

Jim Pinkerton points out that there is really no difference between Bush and the Democrats on fiscal issues. In another piece for NRO on the inevitability of the Medicare bill, Pinkerton points out that DC “think tanks” long ago accepted the premise behind the prescription drug bill and thus could only snipe about the details. The refusal to challenge the legitimacy of the welfare state is one of the reasons DC-conservatives are constantly having their hat handed to them in policy battles. An argument over whether the government should spend $5 billion or $10 billion, when both sides accept the legitimacy of the state action is question, is one the more “generous” side will eventually win. Furthermore, as I and other LRC writers have pointed out, most Constructive Alternative Republican Proposals advanced by DC-think tanks entangle the private sector with the government. Thus, the conservatives advocate greater state power than Ted Kennedy and company!

One of the many reasons Ron Paul is the greatest Congressman of the last two centuries is that he is the only member of Congress who understands the importance of arguing from principle instead of making wonky arguments about the efficiency of program A compared to program B.