Why Conservatives Can't Govern

Good article in the Washington Monthly called 'Why Conservatives Can't Govern'. Reading this article gives the answer.

Contemporary conservatism is first and foremost about shrinking the size and reach of the federal government.

Well we all understand that. Conservatives really don't like big government unless it's telling us what should not be done in the bedroom or who can marry who and other good stuff right out of the bible.

But like all politicians, conservatives, once in office, find themselves under constant pressure from constituents to use government to improve their lives. This puts conservatives in the awkward position of managing government agencies whose missions--indeed, whose very existence--they believe to be illegitimate.

Yeah, it seems people like Social Security and Medicare. They want the government to be able to respond to disasters.

Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government.

The proof is in the pudding. We have a conservative Republican President and a conservative Republican congress. How competent have they been during the last 5 years?

Conservatives cannot govern well for the same reason that vegetarians cannot prepare a world-class boeuf bourguignon: If you believe that what you are called upon to do is wrong, you are not likely to do it very well.

So how is that Iraq War on terrorist going? If you're going to fight a war, shouldn't it run in way that we can win it?

How about the prescription drug plan? Was refusing to allow the government to negotiate drug prices with big pharma a good idea?

Conservatives, from the days of Machiavelli to such twentieth-century figures as Germany's Carl Schmitt, have, by contrast, viewed politics as an extension of war, complete with no-holds-barred treatment of the enemy, iron-clad discipline in the ranks, cries of treason against those who do not support the effort with full-throated vigor, and total control over any spoils won.

Can anyone argue that this isn't exactly what is happening today? We are going to be paying for 8 years of conservative government long after I am dead.

Next November is going to be interesting.