“Big government” Republican-style

WHEN THE Obama administration announced its new budget, Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner was livid, announcing that "the era of big government is back."

That's an interesting statement, given that the era of big government never really ended. Indeed, the Obama budget would push our deficit to levels not seen since the Second World War--but what the Republicans take issue with, more than anything else, is what this budget aims to accomplish.

Rather than funneling billions of dollars into incompetently managed wars while cutting basic services such as disaster relief, student loans and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Obama budget actually offers something for working Americans.

Take, for example, the increase in Pell Grant awards, the expansion of early childhood education programs, a Housing and Urban Development initiative to save 1.3 million affordable housing units, and funds for 1,000 Environmental Protection Agency clean water projects.

This new budget, of course, is just a start, and does not go far enough in addressing certain problems, such as health care and the spiraling cost of college. Nevertheless, it is a radical departure from the Bush administration's policy of giving to the rich by taxing everyone else.

Thus, while the Republicans may cite concerns about "fiscal responsibility" and the preservation of "small government," we must understand that it is Obama's efforts to alleviate the financial woes of the working class--and his demand that wealthy Americans should pay up to solve some of the problems they created--that is truly concerning them.

After all, since when has the right been concerned with small government? As much as congressional Republicans have been sounding off on the deficit in recent weeks, such concerns were wholly absent when these same lawmakers were waging war on Iraq or bailing out Wall Street.

It seems that there's always money for another conflict, another prison or another golden parachute, but when it comes to meeting the needs of the rest of America--those of us who don't sit on the boards of multinationals or write blank checks to the Republican National Committee--there just isn't enough.

It's big government for big business--and small government for the rest of us.
Andrew Oxford, San Antonio, Texas