big government

19 Stories

ObamaCare Is the Ugly Child of Lame Centrism
ObamaCare Is the Ugly Child of Lame Centrism
OPINION
Nov 11, 2013 1:51 PM CST

ObamaCare Is the Ugly Child of Lame Centrism

Democrats wound up with this mess because they lacked conviction

(Newser) - There are many reasons the Affordable Care Act's rollout has been such a disaster, and sure, some of them have (R)s next to their names. "But a large part of the problem was the underlying ideological outlook that shaped the original proposal," Princeton professor Julian Zelizer argues...

In Liberal Vermont, a Secession Movement Rises

Unlikely coalition has a voice in state politics

(Newser) - It's not only Texans : A small but dedicated band of Vermont activists also want to secede from the Union, Prospect.org reports. Railing at the effects of big business and bureaucracy on daily life, they speak at the state legislature, get bills introduced, and run candidates—though none so...

Republicans, It's Time for a 'Second GOP'
Republicans, It's Time
for a 'Second GOP' 
David Brooks
Jan 29, 2013 12:29 PM CST

Republicans, It's Time for a 'Second GOP'

David Brooks thinks the current party mindset is too far gone to fix

(Newser) - Republicans these days are talking a good game about the need to reform—witness Bobby Jindal's plea to stop being the "stupid party." But David Brooks in the New York Times says so far it's been more about sloganeering than actual reform. In fact, he thinks...

GOP's Anti-Government View Misses Full Picture
GOP's Anti-Government
View Misses Full Picture
David Brooks
Sep 2, 2011 1:34 PM CDT

GOP's Anti-Government View Misses Full Picture

David Brooks: We need government to solve systemic problems

(Newser) - Republicans such as Rick Perry make the case that government needs to be drastically scaled back if we are to reverse our "national decline," writes David Brooks in the New York Times . They have a point—but only to a certain degree, he adds. "As great as...

'Epic Failure' of Democrats: Paralyzed Governments
'Epic Failure' of Democrats:
Paralyzed Governments
David Brooks
Oct 12, 2010 1:32 PM CDT

'Epic Failure' of Democrats: Paralyzed Governments

David Brooks: Bloated bureaucracies hamstrung by union demands

(Newser) - Chris Christie's decision to scrap (for now) the Jersey-Manhattan tunnel raises a larger problem for David Brooks. Governments need big projects like these to prosper, but they can't afford them anymore—because the governments themselves are too big and bloated. Cities and states are hamstrung by the salaries and pensions...

Government Isn't Bigger
 Government Isn't Bigger 
PAUL KRUGMAN
Oct 11, 2010 1:49 PM CDT

Government Isn't Bigger

Obama hasn't expanded spending—and that's too bad

(Newser) - The Obama presidency has mobilized hundreds of thousands of conservatives to clamor against the "big expansion of government spending," but said expansion simply didn't happen—and that's the problem, writes Paul Krugman for the New York Times . The president hasn't created new benefits for the poor, large new...

Pat Sajak: I Am Obama's Game Show Czar
Pat Sajak: I Am Obama's Game Show Czar
opinion
Jul 27, 2010 7:14 PM CDT

Pat Sajak: I Am Obama's Game Show Czar

Conservative host mocks big government

(Newser) - Pat Sajak has exciting news: "I am about to be named Federal Game Show Czar," he writes at the conservative Ricochet blog. He's kidding, but the decidedly right-of-center talk show host uses his snarky essay to mock the Obama administration's big-government ways. Forget winners and losers, he writes....

Corporate America Has No Shame
 Corporate 
 America 
 Has No 
 Shame 
dana milbank
Jul 24, 2010 10:16 AM CDT

Corporate America Has No Shame

Today's mantra: Don't blame us, blame the government

(Newser) - Corporate America has "lost its sense of shame," writes Dana Milbank. Exhibit A is Don Blankenship of coal giant Massey Energy, who complained that federal regulations make it hard for companies to "pursue their careers, or their happiness." Aw, "poor CEO Blankenship," writes Milbank...

'Meddling Bureaucrats' Ruining America
 'Meddling Bureaucrats' 
 Ruining America 
opinion
Jul 14, 2010 1:45 PM CDT

'Meddling Bureaucrats' Ruining America

We've got way too many laws, writes John Stossel

(Newser) - John Stossel rails against big government and the endless array of new laws he says are ruining America. "We've become a nation of a million rules," he writes at RealClearPolitics . "Not the kind of bottom-up rules that people generate through voluntary associations. Those are fine. I mean...

Establishment Hasn't Been This Wobbly Since the '60s

And the time is right for conservatives to save the day

(Newser) - Nice that BP cares about the " small people ," but it's the "big people" that are in trouble, writes William Kristol. This week's Gulf follies—with "incompetent" performances from President Obama, Tony Hayward, Joe Barton, et. al— are just the beginning. "Who wouldn’t prefer to...

Palin Backs Tea Partier Who Raked In $300K in Subsidies

Clint Didier calls federal government a 'predator,' but cashes in

(Newser) - A Tea Party-backed candidate who calls the government "a predator" and denounces public spending as a "Marxist utopia" appears to have made a special exception for himself, hauling in almost $300,000 in federal farming subsidies. Washington Senate candidate Clint Didier was endorsed by Sarah Palin yesterday, notes...

Op-Ed Columnist - The Government War - NYTimes.com
Thanks to Dems, Centrist America Suffers Again
david brooks
Apr 23, 2010 11:30 AM CDT

Thanks to Dems, Centrist America Suffers Again

We're rehashing the stale debate of big vs. small government

(Newser) - David Brooks sees himself as an advocate of "progressive conservatism," which he says puts him at the center ("or a step to the right") of American politics. And he's not happy with the plight of the "broad middle" these days. He had hopes that Barack...

Latest ‘Miss Me Yet' Billboard: Jimmy Carter

'We need a good laugh after the theft of our liberty'

(Newser) - Following on the heels of the mysterious billboard with a photo of George W. Bush and the caption “Miss Me Yet?”, a blog unfriendly to President Obama’s expansive spending—and his health-reform plan, in particular—is claiming credit for a new one, this featuring Jimmy Carter. “We...

Sarah Palin, Tea Partiers Are Actually Anti-Populist

The real Populists were anti-Wall Street and for big government

(Newser) - Calling what Sarah Palin and the Tea Partiers practice “populism” is backwards, writes Peter Beinart. In fact, they’re “anti-Populists.” The original Populists, in the late 19th century, “cursed Washington because it wasn’t powerful enough” to protect the people from the greed of “the...

Beck a PoMo Conservative— and It's Working Well for Him

(Newser) - Glenn Beck’s popularity as compared to the more “traditional American conservatism” of, say, Rush Limbaugh heralds the advent of a new archetype, Nate Silver writes on FiveThirtyEight: “Beck is a PoMoCon—a postmodern conservative.” A recent poll shows Beck and Limbaugh equally popular while Limbaugh’s...

Obama's 'Spell is Broken'
 Obama's 'Spell is Broken' 
OPINION
Sep 4, 2009 12:04 PM CDT

Obama's 'Spell is Broken'

Misreading his mandate and talking down to subjects makes president 'ordinary'

(Newser) - President Obama's big-government dreams have turned him into a modern-day Icarus, Charles Krauthammer writes for the Washington Post. “His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth.” The magic is gone after “a disastrous summer” of “mistaking his mandate, believing his press,...

Big Government Prevented Great Depression II
Big Government Prevented Great Depression II
OPINION
Aug 10, 2009 8:22 AM CDT

Big Government Prevented Great Depression II

...And Republicans kept demanding that it step aside and allow it

(Newser) - The economy isn’t in great shape, but we’re going to avoid Great Depression II, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. “What saved us? The answer, basically, is big government.” Unlike the private sector, the government didn’t decrease spending as its income decreased, which...

DC Deficit Fixer: Print on Both Sides of Paper

$102M in painfully obvious cuts shows how outdated gov't is

(Newser) - A short while ago, President Obama called on his Cabinet to make budget cuts in their departments totaling $100 million. They came up with $102 million, but some of the cuts were so obvious one wonders why it took a presidential edict to elicit them, the Wall Street Journal notes....

Kristol: Hey, Liberals, Your Bubble Is Bursting

(Newser) - With the 2006 and 2008 election victories, liberals have been cheering the end of the “ghastly interlude of conservative dominance ushered in by Ronald Reagan,” William Kristol writes in the Weekly Standard. Not so fast. “Only six months into the new administration, even a talented hot air...

19 Stories