Is small government conservatism relevant?

These days, if you are a conservative, you generally have to pay lip service to your preference for small government. Yet, despite the prominence of this as an idea, as a political reality, small government conservatism is dead. At one time, these people called themselves libertarians, but when that idea proved to be unsalable, libertarians took up residence in the Republican party They emphasized economic issues and took up the label small government conservative.

And they have had about as much success there as the American Communist Party. And I have come to the belief that small government conservatives are very much like the old fashioned academic Marxists. Indeed, you can even say of both ideologies that they look good on paper, but fail in practice (to which both sets of true believers will retort it's never really been tried).

I think there are two main causes for the failure of small government conservatism. First, it doesn't work. Business is not opposed to government involvement in the economy, they thrive on it. They simply want regulation to contribute to their profits. If we look at the current economic issues, we see major corporations and financial institutions lining up for government handouts, and getting them. They are demanding increased regulation and supervision as well.

Second, the American people like government when it helps them. The idea of eliminating the big government programs like Social Security and Medicare is a non-starter politically. Proposals such as Social Security privatization and Health Savings accounts (which are not even really about shrinking government) have little appeal outside ideological think tanks.

But the biggest reason probably stems from the nature of the American right itself. I'm not especially thinking about religious conservatives. The real element on the American right that is in stark contrast to small government conservatism is its general pro-military stance. You simply cannot have the worlds most power military force and small government. The US military is the most successful socialist entity ever, providing soldiers and sailors all the necessities of life, including health care, food, shelter, and education.

At this point, you might expect some kind of wistful nostalgia about the frontier and an argument that small government conservatism still reigns in the American west, but that is simply ridiculous. Settling the frontier was a government program--subsidized land, large government subsidies for railroads, and all kind of assistance in logging on government lands.

The basic fact is that the US Constitution was ratified so that we would have an active government, and ever since then, the race has been on to see who could grow it faster.

I fully expect in 20 years time, kids will walk around in Milton Friedman T-shirts like they wear Che Guevera today, and they will be just as relevant.