Big Government Conservatives

Mitt Romney is lying to you.  I know, I know...I'm going to need to be way more specific.  Mitt Romney would have you believe that you have a choice in November between small government conservatives (yeah!  look how small our government is!  Isn't it adorable?) and big government liberals (oh no! look how big that government is! It's going to get us! Run!), but I see almost no evidence for this being the case.

Republicans aren't for small government.  They're for super big intrusive government.  They just want their big government to do different things than the Democrats want the government to do.  Nowhere is this more obvious than in the area of social issues.  That's why Republicans didn't want to talk about social issues in Tampa (well, that and because Republican positions on social issues are indefensible).

Take same-sex marriage.  Now, there are a dozen perfectly good arguments for marriage equality, and Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for opposing it.  But even if you don't agree with me on that, any impartial observer would agree that the Republican position on marriage is the big government position.  Republicans are the ones who want the government to tell you who you can marry.  Democrats are the ones saying marry whoever you want and try not to kill each other (well, most of them are saying that, some of them are still cowards).

Women's issues are the same way.  Republicans are the party that wants the government to restrict choice.  Republicans are the ones who want the government to limit access to birth control.  Republicans are the ones who introduced legislative language that would have put the government in the position of deciding between "forcible" rape and, I guess, the other kind of rape?  Republicans are the ones who want to require women to wear ankle-length dresses at all times including when they're sleeping.  OK, that last one is just Rick Santorum, but still.  Big, big, big government.

Sidenote:  I haven't really mentioned the whole Todd Akin thing because some things are just too stupid for words and I don't like to use the word fuck too much in any one post.  But seriously, what the fuck is wrong with that guy?  I've often said Republicans believe in magic, but I had no idea they believed in magic lady parts that protect themselves against rape semen (there's a word I never wanted to use in this blog, fuck you Todd Akin).  And don't tell me he misspoke.  He's a 65 year old man who said exactly what he's believed ever since some moron taught it to him and he didn't bother to find out if it was true or not.  He's an idiot, and he still might be a Senator.  Don't make me come over there Missouri!

Anyway, it isn't just social issues.  Mitt Romney wants to increase Defense spending by around 2 trillion dollars.  Trillion.  Now, I don't know if you know this, and I don't know if Mitt knows this, but the Defense department is a department of the government.  It's true, I looked it up on Wikipedia.  Mitt wants to make it 2 trillion dollars bigger.  Mitt also wants to make the Navy bigger, because you never know when the Spanish armada might show up.  The Navy works for the government too.

What about economics?  Well, the Republicans want to use the government to protect privilege.  Republican economic policies (tax cuts for the wealthy, eliminating the estate tax, etc) are designed to use the Federal government as a tool to allow privileged people to stay that way and keep everyone else outside the gates where they belong.  Now, if you believe the Democrats want to use the government to create more economic equality, that's big government too.  But the point is, it's not a debate between big and small, it's a debate between what they want to use big government to do.

It's still a choice.  Voters need to listen to both sides and decide what they want their big government to do.  If you want your big government to protect privilege and enforce your religious beliefs, then you should vote Republican.  Really, you should.  But every time Mitt Romney tells you that a vote for him and Paul Ryan is a vote for small government, he's lying to you.