Big Government Conservatism

Ever since Barack Obama's inauguration, Republicans and their conservative base have been yelling bloody murder about big government. The Tea Parties are all about the United States Constitution and the problem with Barack Obama's Big Government. Events today, however, seemed to remind me of a time before "Obamacare" and the reemergence of the American Regulatory State, and also seemed to remind me of exactly how short our attentions are as a people.

Does anybody remember our last president? President Curious George? President W. Bush? That lovely cowboy of a president that you wanted to have a beer and then go to evangelical church with? Well, I was reminded of him today when I read that, in all of our recent libertarian originalist craze, a federal court found that FCC bans on indecency and obscenities were UNCONSTITUTIONAL (as it went against our first amendment in the bill of rights). I had forgotten that from 2001-2008 Big Government did not mean high taxes, strict regulations, universal health care, government impinging on economic freedom, but it instead meant something entirely different: federal amendment to constitution defining marriage in order to get rid of the prospect of gay marriage, ban on stem cell research, trying to overrule Roe v. Wade, federally-funded abstinence sex-ed courses, etc. etc. The list can go on and on when it comes to the Big Government activism of the Bush Years for a socially conservative agenda.

What is amazing to note is that it bothered nobody except die-hard libertarians that conservatives were doing this. In fact, I would bet that the majority of the electorate that voted red in 2004, voted that way because they saw Senator John Kerry as the lefty hippie candidate who was going to let gay people become happily married (I know, right! How dare he!). Conservatives should start recalling this before they go crazy with tea party fever against big government and realize that its not big government they don't like, its the big government of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi that they don't like. Otherwise, suck it! If you wanna go constitutional on us, we'll go constitutional on you... if you didn't want your kid to be exposed to the FILTH that is Bono saying "fuck" or Janet Jackson revealing her boob on national television, then that is just too bad because now the "big government" won't cover your kids ears and eyes for you.