The demise of the conservative "anti-government" agenda ?

[kentuck]

Or is this just the beginning of the end? Will people connect the dots? When you refuse to spend money on infrastructure and "people needs", eventually it comes around and bites you on the ass real hard. Now we know that the Clinton Administration had begun work on the flood project for New Orleans but Clinton said this morning in his news conference with Bush, Sr that he did not know what happened after he left? That was a devastating indictment, considering that the Bush Administration cut $94 million dollars for the Corps of Engineers in New Orleans and added $100 million for the Corps of Engineers for Erbil, in northern Iraq. Yep, that's true.

[shoelace414]

1. tax cuts kill

[Jade Fox]

2. It is really an anti-governmental controls agenda...

as someone else here on DU pointed out. Govermental controls (and taxes)
on Corporations is the true Neocon anti-goverment agenda.

I don't think folks who get all worked up over fantasies of welfare queens
have much connet the dot type skills. They never get it until it affects them
in some way. They don't start out realizing that the infrastructue doesn't
keep itself magically repaired, and has to be paid for. Like infants they just
expect their needs to be met by someone else.

It's not an accident that these folks also love Bush and don't expect him
to be a functional adult either, blaming all his failures on someone else.

[ewagner]

3. Great post (as usual)

And I am thinking there is a theme for Democrats to pick up on here.

Your post takes Molly Ivans' column one step further. Remember, just a day or so ago Molly reminded us that government decisions DO make a difference and sometimes that difference is between life and death. New Orleans, rightly or wrongly, will always remain the pentultimate example of the differences between Liberal and Conservative government.

I'm working on perfecting the theme.....I suspect Kentuck is too :hi:

[kentuck]

4. I think the Democratic Party has a responsibility and an obligation...

to point out the results of Republican policies and agenda.. We, the people, are the "government". We cannot survive by cutting taxes to the bone, not spending any money on our infrastructure or our people and it is a big lie to suggest that America is somehow spending too much money on "social programs". If people think it has been bad thus far, just wait 'til they do away with Social Security. Katrina and 9/11 would only be footnotes in comparison. Democrats must stop them now.

[Hidden Stillness]

5. Sadly, Now the Facts Themselves Make the Case for Us

God I hope so, and I have also thought of this: that this sheer horror, with citizens suffering devastation and disaster right in our own country, and NOBODY RESPONDING--totally unacceptable to the American people--shows what all the carefully considered arguments can't, and that is, what conservatism/corporatism leads to. You can't even argue against it, because now the facts are there, showing it all, exposed. Sometimes it has to happen this way for people to really realize it--to argue it as an abstract, they keep coming back with counter-arguments, but to have this thing play itself out, as it is, in the real world, shows by proof what the logical, inevitable conclusion of the conservative, anti-government position is. When they tell you, "don't rely on Government for anything," God help you--believe it!

[welshTerrier2]

6. we need a powerful government

we need a powerful government with sufficient resources to do what is needed ...

republicans, especially the neo-cons, regardless what they say about federal spending, have a hidden agenda ... well, actually it's not so hidden ... their goal is to weaken government to the point that it is no longer sufficiently powerful or effective to be able to restrain runaway corporate power ...

Democrats should push hard for balanced budgets and responsible spending programs but the total bankruptcy of the republican's anti-government ideology could not be more clearly demonstrated than what we're seeing in New Orleans ... the truth is, they don't give a damn about the people in this country ... at it's core, the republican ideology is "i got mine and you can go fuck yourself" ... and the American people continue to get suckered by $300 tax cuts instead of fighting for a government that serves the best interests of ALL citizens in this country ...