Why is the republican party seen as the party for less government?

[holiday]

the only thing that I see the republican party wants less government in is social programs... and that's just because they want to keep as much of their money as they possibly can.

Everything else seems like more government

abortion (have the govnerment forcing people to stay pregnant)
the whole Religion with politics (forcing their type of religion on people)
national Id cards


am i missing something? i really don't see how they are less government?

[stray cat]

1. The former republican party was made up of some real conservatives.

Bush Co and the majority of republicans are what used to be a radical fringe group of the republican party and are not really traditional conservatives. The new crop like big intrusive government and big corporate pay offs and no social programs that help workers.

Examples of the traditional conservatives may be John McCain and Lindsey Graham - also known as RINOs by the radical republicans in charge now.

[havocmom]

2. Beacuse too many Americans suffer from lazy eyes

:shrug:

[zann725]

8. ...and lazy-brain.

n/t

[Webster Green]

3. Don't forget fiscal responsibility...

Those are alleged to be the main goals of the party.

They have failed miserably.

[Downtown Hound]

4. The massive propaganda machine knows as the media

If they were to report the truth about the GOP, they would be labeled as biased. So they consistently ignore the Republicans record on just about everything, from job creation to deficits to failed wars to lies.

That's a huge part of it. Of course, all the information is out there so we can only blame the media for so long. The other part of it is that many Americans are just dumb as a tree stump and ignorant as hell.

[leftyandproud]

5. Bush is not a conservative. He is a radical.

Principled belief in conservatism...in leaving people alone and limiting the power of government died with Ronald Reagan.

[Igel]

6. They used to be for less government.

It doesn't take more government to enforce anti-abortion laws than the rest. Moreover, those are usually state workers, not really federal workers.

They were against the Dept. of Education, against the Great Society and the War against Poverty, EPA, and other branches of government that I can't recall. Didn't much care for Social Security, at all.

They've traditionally been in favor of strong defense/military (even spooks) and overall minimal (federal) government. Generally low taxes, low governmental overhead. They've also traditionally been more in favor of laissez-faire capitalism than a heavily mixed economic system. And I guess one older definition conservatism is a dispreference for seeing the system changed (which sounds rather like some dems these days!), or looking to traditional solutions for society's problems.

There's talk of state rights, but I personally don't buy a lot of it. Dems and repubs each invoke state rights whenever they can score political points off of it. It's been the case, I think, that a dem congress and dem prez produced more scoring opportunities for repubs, a mixed congress/prez still favored having repubs cry "states rights", but with a repub congress/prez, dems can score points.

Nixon was a strange republican, but those were strange times. SALT (I think) with Russia, opening China/derecognizing Taiwan, price controls, getting us out of Vietnam, and signing the EPA into existence.

Under Reagan, taxes were cut(repub point), but the overall size of nearly every government program grew--more money spent, more employees. He tried to cut the Dept. of Education, but it grew by leaps under his aegis. I couldn't tell at the time if he was really against all the non-defense increases, or just some; both houses of congress were controlled by dems, and the budgets he submitted were barely recognizable at the other end. I seem to recall he once refused to sign a budget bill (a la Big Dog, maybe for the same deficit-cutting reasons), but there was a media backlash against Reagan. Upshot: Massive deficits.

The real shift came, I think, with the baby boomer presidents: Clinton wasn't a traditional dem, and Bush II isn't a traditional repub.

[Pushed To The Left]

7. Republicans support big government

when it comes to controlling other people, and small government when it comes to actually helping people.

[googly]

9. Bush is a politician first, conservative LAST!

He is co-opting all our issues, such as prescription drugs,
education funding, etc. etc. He has no so called conservative
core in any shape or form. He has played politics from day 1.

[Dr Ron]

10. George Bush brought back big government

This is discussed (with data from LA Times) at:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=336

Follow story is also planned.

[robbedvoter]

11. Same reason they are seen as national security party: better PR

or propaganda rather. W ran on a mistake and dems didn't challenge it.