7 ms·

Just a talking point--empirically that's not true.

acdha 11y ago
> empirically that's not true Feel like expanding that point? I mean shrinking government and changing society so people depend on it less is literally part of the national GOP platform. Is your argument just that they're not willing to sabotage things for political advantage? (and, if so, how are we to explain the billions spent shutting down the federal government as a negotiating tactic?)
- throwaway0492 11y ago
  literally part of the national GOP platform So you really think whatever they tell you is true? The GOP has not actually shrunk the government. Even when they had full control over the senate, house, and the presidency, they did not shrink the government... in fact, they made it bigger.
  - anigbrowl 11y ago
    The poster above is saying that it's part of the GOP's political agenda that's marketed to voters, rather than necessarily what they do once they're in office.
    - throwaway0492 11y ago
      No he's not. It's called a "thread". He's replying to a post that says "Just a talking point--empirically that's not true." and he's saying it's more than a talking point because it's in the GOP platform.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
  - acdha 11y ago
    Lately they have cut things – the sequester was real and will be causing damage for decades[1] – but generally in the least productive ways possible. That gives them something to point at while still leaving plenty to rant about and, of course, more chances to grandstand over self-created problems like backlogs at the IRS, VA, etc. I'm sure we're going to hear plenty about this security breach and nobody will mention that the federal pay scale tops out below what the average infosec professional makes or that agencies have been begging for funding to improve their IT staff for years. 1. Most young scientists are leaving research due to budget cuts at NIH, NSF, NASA, etc. They're unlikely to ever come back so we've lost a large chunk of an entire generation of research in most fields. Sure, many of them are going to industry but I would submit that a crop of data scientists selling ads is less productive for the country long-term than all of the foundational pure research which industry rarely funds.
- ahallock 11y ago
  Let's see the drug war, DHS, military, NSA, no child left behind--just to name a few. The gov increased under Reagan despite what conservatives will tell you. The GOP has been part of massive increases in gov. Why would someone in political power ever be for downsizing gov, save a few outliers? It's just pandering to the base. A short-term sabotage is not out of the question. Actually, I have a graph showing how gov actually increases more under GOP control than democrats. Hold on.
  - acdha 11y ago
    I must not have made my position clear. I don't think that they're particularly committed or effective deficit hawks – the true fiscal conservatives were purged years ago – but rather that this is now a key part of their public image. They heavily promote the idea that government is inefficient because it keeps people voting for them and, most importantly, keeps corporate-backed groups like Fox News from going on the attack in the next election. That might necessitate a token effort somewhere to cut things but the real goal is the posture, not the results, so maximizing inefficiency isn't something they're concerned with. In most cases, they'll try to cut things which affect people who don't vote for them anyway – mass transit, funding for the poor, etc.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- ahallock 11y ago
  https://mises.org/library/republicans-and-big-government https://mises.org/library/republicans-and-big-government

acdha 11y ago

> empirically that's not true Feel like expanding that point? I mean shrinking government and changing society so people depend on it less is literally part of the national GOP platform. Is your argument just that they're not willing to sabotage things for political advantage? (and, if so, how are we to explain the billions spent shutting down the federal government as a negotiating tactic?)

throwaway0492 11y ago
literally part of the national GOP platform So you really think whatever they tell you is true? The GOP has not actually shrunk the government. Even when they had full control over the senate, house, and the presidency, they did not shrink the government... in fact, they made it bigger.
- anigbrowl 11y ago
  The poster above is saying that it's part of the GOP's political agenda that's marketed to voters, rather than necessarily what they do once they're in office.
  - throwaway0492 11y ago
    No he's not. It's called a "thread". He's replying to a post that says "Just a talking point--empirically that's not true." and he's saying it's more than a talking point because it's in the GOP platform.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- acdha 11y ago
  Lately they have cut things – the sequester was real and will be causing damage for decades[1] – but generally in the least productive ways possible. That gives them something to point at while still leaving plenty to rant about and, of course, more chances to grandstand over self-created problems like backlogs at the IRS, VA, etc. I'm sure we're going to hear plenty about this security breach and nobody will mention that the federal pay scale tops out below what the average infosec professional makes or that agencies have been begging for funding to improve their IT staff for years. 1. Most young scientists are leaving research due to budget cuts at NIH, NSF, NASA, etc. They're unlikely to ever come back so we've lost a large chunk of an entire generation of research in most fields. Sure, many of them are going to industry but I would submit that a crop of data scientists selling ads is less productive for the country long-term than all of the foundational pure research which industry rarely funds.
ahallock 11y ago
Let's see the drug war, DHS, military, NSA, no child left behind--just to name a few. The gov increased under Reagan despite what conservatives will tell you. The GOP has been part of massive increases in gov. Why would someone in political power ever be for downsizing gov, save a few outliers? It's just pandering to the base. A short-term sabotage is not out of the question. Actually, I have a graph showing how gov actually increases more under GOP control than democrats. Hold on.
- acdha 11y ago
  I must not have made my position clear. I don't think that they're particularly committed or effective deficit hawks – the true fiscal conservatives were purged years ago – but rather that this is now a key part of their public image. They heavily promote the idea that government is inefficient because it keeps people voting for them and, most importantly, keeps corporate-backed groups like Fox News from going on the attack in the next election. That might necessitate a token effort somewhere to cut things but the real goal is the posture, not the results, so maximizing inefficiency isn't something they're concerned with. In most cases, they'll try to cut things which affect people who don't vote for them anyway – mass transit, funding for the poor, etc.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
ahallock 11y ago
https://mises.org/library/republicans-and-big-government https://mises.org/library/republicans-and-big-government