It is no secret that the United States is as polarized as it ever has been, save for the Civil War era, of course. The line seems to be drawn just left of center. The moderates who voted for Barack Obama, including some left of center folks, have all snapped back into the Republican camp and those on the traditional right of center are more energized than ever.
In the generic ballot, a poll that asks, “If you were to vote today, would you vote Republican or Democrat?” the split is now 45% to 39% according to Rasmussen. This is very accurate, since Rasmussen only polls likely voters. Among registered voters, the split is even more dramatic at 51% to 41%.
The split is not surprising. The Congress and the Executive branches are both controlled by big government leftists. These people favor a large and powerful government to control many aspects of your heretofore private life. Among the more egregious power-grabs by the left are:
- The Health Care Bill – this bill includes 2700 pages of regulations, dictating the relationship between you, your doctor and your health insurance company. It also compels citizens to buy insurance.
- Cap & Trade – this scheme already passed by the House, would set up a system in which the government allocates “carbon credits” to companies, allowing them to produce only that certain amount of carbon. If a company wants to produce more, they have to buy more carbon credits. Can anyone say, “Big time scam?”
- Debt Load – In 2007 the national deficit was about $163 Billion. At the end of 2010 it will be $1.5 Trillion! With deficits like this, it is no wonder that the government has added some $2 Trillion to the national debt since Obama took office.
- Government Take Overs - The government has moved on the auto industry, banks, insurance companies, and is using end-around regulation and czars to take over any business it deems “too big to fail.”
So it is clear that the left wants to control the economy and by extension, you. Through Obamacare and Cap & Trade alone, the government will have an extraordinary amount of coercive power over your life.
What about the right? What exactly do conservatives want?
Interestingly, conservative desires can be summed up in one sentence: Leave us alone. Here are the central tenants to the conservative movement:
- Smaller government – conservatives believe that the government should be quite lean, only large enough to perform constitutionally enumerated functions, leaving the rest of government functions to the States.
- Lower taxes – conservatives believe that if people can keep more of what they earn, they will be better off. They believe that you can make spending decisions about your money much better than the government can.
- Fiscal responsibility – Conservatives want the government to only perform enumerated powers (see #1 above) and do so within the confines of a small and balanced budget.
Conservatives don’t want much. Conservatives are only asking to be left alone to go about their lives without the heavy hand of government taxing and regulating them at every turn. This is a stark contrast to liberal and progressive Democrats who seek a government solution to most every problem citizens may encounter, and solve none of them well, or at all.
The left wants to control your life. The right wants you to control your own life. It’s a simple choice.
For more information about the budget deficit and spending, please read Obama’s Budget: A Closer Look.
I find it interesting that you discribe the country as being “left of center” because I would honestly have to say that I think the majorty of the people are right of center. Of course, that all depends on where you place that “center” line.
I see how you picked that up from the way I wrote that sentence: “The line seems to be drawn just left of center.” What I meant was precisely the opposite of what you picked up.
My meaning was that because of the policies put forth from the Democrat Congress and Obama, more of the country has become aligned with the Republicans. That is, if at election time, 53ish% of people voted for Obama were aligned with Democrats, now I’d guess about 55ish% of people align themselves with Republicans.
So the demarcation has shifted to include many of those who used to be associated with the left.
I hope that makes sense…
I heard Pat Cadell on Hannity today say the one thing to watch for is the lack of media criticism of Obama, but that’s been going for years. He seems to think that might trip-up a Republican win in November.
The voters who are not too enthusiastic about going to the polls this time, don’t listen to the media anyway. For everyone else, I believe these generic polls have more than a ring of truth to them.
I agree with you about conservatives and their goals. Too bad the Republican fossils already entrenched in Washington do not have the same aspirations. This is why I believe the Tea parties are so very important. I don’t think they are going away.
After so many months of discouraging news, it is spirit-lifting to think so many others agree with us and will vote accordingly.
You hit the nail on the head, Maggie! Twice! It is true that the Republican fossils in DC are just clueless. I mean, can John McCain not take a hint?
You’re also spot on re: the Tea Party. There is a lot of discussion about how the Tea Party can effect the elections and even after 2010, but just how it will pan out is a bit of a mystery. What is not a mystery is how powerful the movement has become.
Harry, I’m new around here too, so I didn’t realize this is your first contribution. Congratulations on being chosen to write for this fine site. You did them proud.
Welcome to Political Realities! I also interpretted your first sentence as meaning that America was a center-left country. I now understand what you were saying.
I think you did a great jobs of summing up the fundamental difference between the left and the right. Barack Obama may actually be bringing the country together as he promised to do–too bad for him he is bringing us together against his policies.
Welcome Harry. Pretty good post for the first round. I do believe that establishment Republicans have shifted the party more to the center. I’m personally more to the right. I think we need more pure conservatives running for office. Right now the party has far too many RINOs setting party policy and this got us into the mess we were in during the 2008 elections. Voters only saw minor difference between the two parties, when in reality there are stark differences. We must remember that our government has expanded their power and grown in size under the watch of both parties. Again welcome and I look forward to more posts from you.
Welcome Harry. Nice post but I find the analysis missing the meat. I know what you’re against but I’m not sure what you are for. The generic conservative principles you’ve outlined are well and good but how do they translate into governing? Conservatives are for a strong defense so I assume a cut in defense expenditures is out of the question. The interest on national debt can’t be touched. I haven’t heard any conservatives arguing for an immediate rise in the retirement age or a reduction in Social Security or Medicare benefits so I assume they are not to be touched even ignoring Obamacare. Well, those few items make up the great bulk of government spending and it is taxes that pay for those things — so continue to cut taxes and please let me know how those things will get paid for. I’m not a tax and spend liberal and I take serious issue with some of the things Obama has done but I don’t accept the conservative generic formula without answers to the basic questions of governance and so far I haven’t heard them.
I see your point, Mike. Couple things on this – the central proposition of the post is that there are simple, fundamental differences between the left and the right, that those differences are government intervention into our lives, or a smaller government role in our lives.
Your assumption about conservatives wanting to deal with social security, Medicare, etc are incorrect. Paul Ryan has a fantastic plan that is gaining momentum in conservative circles. That you have not heard of it is a testament to media bias. Check out the information here: http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Issues/Issue/?IssueID=8520
If you peruse that link, you’ll see a whole series of tangible, cost cutting, legislative options that would allow for the solvency of Medicare and Medicaid. He has a similar plan for Social Security.
You mention basic functions of governance, and that is exactly what conservatives want: the government to do only that which is enumerated in the Constitution. We are WAY beyond that. Here’s an example…
The Department of Housing & Urban Development has an increase of 18.5% for this year – up to some $48 billion. Why? The left would have you believe that we must have this massive increase in money. I would argue that this department’s constitutionality itself is in question (Show me where in the Constitution this is allowed for.) That aside, if we agree that it is constitutional, in this time of uncertainty, why can’t we cut it’s budget back to 2005 levels? My business made serious cut backs this year, why do we give these massive programs such huge growth?
Worse – what does this department even produce at a cost of $50 Billion per YEAR?
That is one example of an out of control government department. For meat to my argument, I would go through each government agency and cut the budget by 20% – for starters. That, in conjunction with common sense plans like from Paul Ryan, and by tax reductions across the board to stimulate growth, it would strengthen the country quickly and dramatically.
There is no reason at all we need $3.2 Trillion to run the government.
Welcome, Harry, and thanks for the post.
Like Mike, I thought the meat was missing, but I understand this to be an introduction of your position. For that, broad strokes are fine.
My issue with the fiscal argument you bring is that you are talking about tiny pieces of the budget pie that you would cut. Would it help more than it hurts? Debatable, but will it make a big difference? That’s the real question.
Mike/Larry: It might be helpful to this discussion to link Mike’s post on the debt, the one that included the handy pie chart that can be manipulated to show mandatory spending vs discretionary spending. It is eye opening. Social Security is a huge part of our spending, yes, but it at least is off set with revenues. Military expenditures, the other huge part of mandatory spending, has no offsetting revenues. What do we do about that?
I also respectfully disagree with your contention that the right just wants us all to live our life and the left wants to control us all. It’s a talking point, for sure, but deserves much better analysis regarding the goals of each side. The right is just as interested in regulating my life as the left is when it comes to government intervention, and in fact gets very personal in the decisions it wants government to make for us. Again-it’s debatable which sort of regulation one prefers, but I think there’s no quesiton that both sides operate from a position of control. It’s an essential element in power, is it not?
Look forward to your coming posts.
WHOOPS! Somehow missed your 20% cut in all departments. I assume you mean military as well. Perhaps a start. Where would you cut? So many of the departments are top heavy-are you suggesting job cutting, salary reductions, as well as cuts in services?
Hi Laurie –
Thanks for your comments! I am enjoying interacting with such an insightful group of readers…
This post was never intended to get into the policy minutia of what conservatives would do versus liberals on specific issues, line by line through the budget. The current budget is some $3 Trillion and there are 70,000 or so pages of regulation under which the country operates. To list specifics would require more than a 500 word blog post. The intention here is to illustrate the fundamental differences in philosophy.
Also – I think you may be confusing left/right with Republican/Democrat. It is simply not true that the “right” wants as much regulation of your life as the “left.” It may, however, be true that the current Republican infrastructure has almost as many statist inclinations as the Democrat machine. But that is an important difference, since I agree that the GOP has been almost as bad as the democrats in terms of expanding the government, but disagree that the “right” is responsible for that. A semantic difference, but quite an important one.
Lastly, I think the goals I laid out are quite clear – reduce the tax burden on everybody; reduce the size of government; and establish a budget that fully finds only that which is constitutionally mandated. I’m not sure that more analysis is required. If we agree on those goals, then we can set about developing tactics in an effort to get there.
It is also noteworthy that military is one of the few constitutionally mandated endeavors for the federal government. I would suggest that we eliminate the programs that are not constitutional and then cut budgets of those that are in a manner fitting with national priority. Maybe this begins with a 20% reduction…there are many ways to go about it. Again, mine is not to write a federal budget to state my case, only to illustrate the differences between left and right (read: not Republicans and Democrats).
Welcome Harry! As I read your post, I was thinking that the current republican leadership needs to read it and be reminded of what the right is suppose to want, then I read this reply and I see that you make that distinction.
You are a great addition to Political Realities.
Question, 20% cut across the board, but what about the Federal Department of Education? Personally, that’s a department that needs to be eliminated. Education decisions should be made at truly local levels.
Laurie,
I have edited Harry’s post to include a link to the post I think you are referring to. Let me know if it isn’t and I will search further. We now have so many posts on Political Realities that it makes it more difficult to locate a particular post, unless we know the title.
Very nice Harry. The agenda should be about rolling back all of the government programs and controls, many of which have caused most of the problems facing this nation. The general idea should be to do as little as possible.
Great first post, Harry and a fine job at breaking down and simplifying the differences between the left and the right. In this case, less really is better than more.
Great article. Since the government seems to royally screw up everything it touches I just assume they have the least amount of say in Americas personal life.
A government for the people not a government over the people.