The circuitous road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue continues to run through southwestern Virginia: two weeks ago, Gov. Mitt Romney rallied supporters in Salem; today, President Barack Obama will campaign in downtown Roanoke. It’s interesting to note, though, that the president’s campaign appearance isn’t the only big event in Roanoke this weekend. “Discover the Dinosaurs,” a traveling, walk-through exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs and other dino-related activities, will be at the Roanoke Civic Center all weekend.
What exactly does President Obama have in common with animatronic dinosaurs (besides a heavily scripted performance)? More than you might think.
Like the dinosaurs, after the defeats of doctrinaire liberals like George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis (not to mention later contenders Al Gore and John Kerry), and the success of “centrist” Bill Clinton, many Americans believed that old-school liberalism was extinct. National politicians couldn’t win or govern using the old tax-spend-regulate model that had been a hallmark of liberalism. After all, even President Clinton chose to abandon it after his attempts at governing as a liberal cost his party control of Congress for the first time since 1954. As a centrist, he went on to recover his lost popularity and, in the process, reform welfare, sign a balanced budget and declare that “the era of big government is over”–all with the aid of a Republican-controlled Congress.
With the Obama Administration, however, we see a return to the tax-spend-regulate model many of us thought had been relegated to the ash heap of failed policy ideas. From the excessively large and ultimately unsuccessful stimulus bill to the massive Obamacare tax increase, which could hit all Americans–individuals and businesses–and regulations that are threatening the livelihood of thousands of Virginians who work in the coal industry and other related fields, the Obama Administration is implementing this tax-spend-regulate model. Throughout the process, President Obama has been deeply and personally involved in selling these proposals to the American people, usually with little success. He’s also demonstrated animosity toward any voices of opposition in Congress or the courts. With the tax-spend-regulate model, we’ve also seen the return of economic stagnation similar to that which accompanied the last era of liberalism-in-action.
Southwestern Virginians, like all Americans, have a choice to make in November: will we vote for four more years of higher taxes, irresponsible spending, ubiquitous regulations and the inevitable sluggish economic growth, or will we vote to send the tax-spend-regulate model of governance, like the dinosaurs, back to the pages of the history books?
