> In what context were they using it? I know that's what Wikipedia says, but their reference is behind a paywall. From what I can see of it, this is not how thi

> In what context were they using it? I know that's what Wikipedia says, but their reference is behind a paywall. From what I can see of it, this is not how this phrase was initially used. Here's another source attesting it to the Reagan administration in 1985[1]. To be clear, it doesn't even make sense for it to have come from the larger-government sphere: why would they refer to the US Government as "the beast"? I have no idea what Proposition 13 is (although I'm guessing it's a California thing). In the context of US federal politics, "starving the beast" refers to a general "pincer" policy of both reducing funding and minimizing the effectiveness of that funding (e.g. by increasing outflows to contractors and other private services while decreasing oversight over those outflows). [1]: https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_12_01_01_bartlett.pdf https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_12_01_01_bartlett.pd...