Let’s Talk About Frugal Socialism
By Shaun Kenney | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 | PoliticsSo what is “frugal socialism” anyhow?
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. — Thomas Paine
All government is socialism… so when someone rails against “socialism” as a form of governance, they’re really railing against the latter half of Paine’s indictment of government-as-force, and not against government-as-society.
The question is where the balance must be struck. Americans don’t believe in socialism or corporatism, yet we all believe in governance and capitalism. Defining what the golden mean is — and having a government elastic enough for us as citizens to identify where that mean is — isn’t just the genius of the Founding Fathers, it’s the bedrock of the Jeffersonian optimism in the American people to figure it out for themselves.
Michelle Bachmann strikes the wrong chord here against former Speaker Newt Gingrich. The value of “frugal socialism” really depends on where the emphasis is — the frugality or the socialism.
Conservatives side with the latter… and it would be foolish (or amazingly blind and simple) to insist that all forms of society automatically equate into the extremes of modern-day socialism.
Is it any small wonder why Republicans are now flocking to Gingrich? Substance over style…
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About the author
Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.
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5 Responses to "Let’s Talk About Frugal Socialism"
“Americans don’t believe in socialism”
Umm most Democrats do and that’s not even my opinion it’s theirs.
As for Repubs flocking to Newt – no they aren’t; unless they were flocking to Bachmann, Perry, and Cain. They are simply trying to find an alternative to Romney and in this case they have found nearly a clone policy wise and an antithesis personality and ethically wise. So I wonder what the fuss and bother is about.
I’m not entirely jazzed about Newt either, but I wouldn’t be willing to categorize his political philosophy as “frugal socialism” — in fact, that’s probably one of the more asinine things I’ve heard a candidate use as a critique against another Republican in a long time.
Now Obama? There’s socialism-on-the-cheap for ya… problem is, I’d point at Grover Norquist’s “no tax pledge” and argue that such a policy has put us under a spend-and-spend Republican dynamic for years… and now it’s the government threatening to drown taxpayers in a bathtub all at once, rather than a tax revolt every five years.
What you’re seeing with Newt is a “substance over style” question from GOP voters. Romney may eventually be the nominee… but much like McCain, we’ll hold our nose all the way to an Obama victory in 2012 if he does end up being the nominee…
How far have we fallen when this is the topic of debate? Government’s role is to protect our God given rights above all else. According to the Declaration of Independence, we can’t delegate authorities to government that we don’t have ourselves. Yet we do this every day.
When government gets back to its true role and stops monkeying around in social engineering…we’ll all get to see the miracle of freedom kick in.
But as long as we are slaves to our entitlement mentality…we are doomed.
I wish there were a Like button for your comment Chip.. You clearly get it.
I save you the time Turbo, if there were a dislike button, you’d click on it for this:
We live in a democracy. One person, one vote. When those in power adapt policies that favor the fortunate few to the exclusion of the majority, the unfortunate are going to become resentful and voting for change.
America is still a nation of great wealth, however in the past few decades the wealth seems to have become more and more concentrated at the top. We need to return to the American Way. Unless the wealthy start showing a little more concern for the less fortunate, there is going to be heck to pay at the ballot box.
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