So 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…
