Ted Cruz stole the show at last weekend’s Value Voters Summit. His speech was littered with small-government rhetoric about the virtues of “freedom” and “liberty” and “free market values” and the “Constitution” and how Obama is destroying “this great nation” with all his “big government.”
I liked Cruz when I first heard about him. He seemed like he might be a smart, articulate libertarian-ish Republican defender of Constitutional principles and legitimate small government. But the more I heard from him, the more uneasy I became. He seemed too populist, too partisan, too eager to blame Obama for every possible problem in the world, but I haven’t put my finger on what really bothered me about him until now.
I’m sick of fake Republicans talking a big talk about how much they hate “big government” while only ever talking about a small part of it. I know, it’s nothing new, but it really bugs me when I hear it, especially from the Tea Party heroes who are supposed to be better than the establishment leaders.
Don’t talk to me about how much you hate Obamacare. Talk to me about how you want to get the federal government out of Medicare. Don’t talk to me about how much you hate food stamps. Talk to me about how you want to get the federal government out of farm subsidies. Don’t talk to me about gun control. Talk to me about how you want to get the federal government out of corrupt defense contracts and military bases and drone strikes and surveillance (to his credit, Cruz briefly mentioned the last two in the midst of his multiple “Obamacare” tirades).
Talk to me about how you want to get the federal government out of the War on Drugs, out of excessive disability benefits, out of ethanol subsidies and indefinite detention and militarized policing and patent extensions and anything the federal government does that gives even a little bit of help to farmers or seniors or veterans or CEOs or anybody else that looks just a little bit Republican.
Until then, don’t be shocked when leading progressives say things like, “This whole dispute is about the Republican Party fighting to make sure the working poor don’t have access to affordable health care.” You and I both know that’s an outrageous lie; if we really didn’t want the poor to access affordable health care we would support Obamacare full throttle because we think it’s terrible for the poor and everyone else! But until you start speaking out against the parts of Big Government that benefit you, don’t expect them to believe you.
I’ve always preferred to admit a general bias towards small government while allowing for reasonable arguments for various general regulations and interventions. I’ve always thought that was more humble and more likely to find truth than adamantly declaring all government as evil. But what’s far worse than really believing that is to say you believe it and then completely ignore all the parts of government that benefit you and your tribe. When you do that, it’s no wonder your poll numbers are hitting record lows.