And all that has changed. Today there seems to be no aspect of civil society that either party would place beyond the reach of the federal leviathan. Neither Barry Goldwater nor Ronald Reagan believed there was a federal role in education in America. Now, GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott whines that Bill Clinton is not giving Lott s party credit for the billions of dollars it wants to spend on local education. Democrats today would trample the First Amendment in the name of campaign finance reform and politically correct speech codes.
Republicans offer bills to provide federal funding for pre-divorce counseling.
Democrats cheer Bill Clinton s utterly undisciplined use of military force for humanitarian reasons, collateral damage be damned. Both parties are unwilling to admit that Social Security must be privatized. It s all very disheartening for those of us who advocate limited government and individual liberty. Perhaps most disturbing has been the virtual collapse of the GOP as a defender of a constitutionally limited role for the federal government. The Balanced Budget Obsession .