Much of Peter Beinart’s latest piece for TIME offers a fair description of the problems Republicans would face if John McCain wins the presidency but faces a large (perhaps veto-proof) Democratic majority in Congress.
But Beinart strays a little too far into the realm of wishful thinking when he says:
The bald reality is this: the public is more eager for activist government than it has been in years.
Beinart seems to base this statement on the fact that Democrats fare much better than Republicans in polls, especially the polls that pit a generic Democrat against a generic Republican. Democrats like big, activist government, hence people must be “more eager” for activist government.
Unfortunately for those who favor big government, the reasons why people turned away from Republicans don’t mesh with Beinart’s statement. Distaste for the Iraq War, earmarks, the Abramoff scandal, and Mark Foley’s sleazy behavior does not translate into support for more government involvement in our lives.
Beinart might benefit from a dose of David Boaz’s recent book The Politics of Freedom.
