Conservatives vs. Republicans
By Nathan Tabor (06/06/06)
It's been awhile since my college day class in Logic, but I still remember the concept of logical consequence. Let's see...
Conservatives are typically members of the Republican Party.
The majority of Congressional members are Republicans.
Therefore, the majority of Congressional members are Conservatives.
The argument above is deductively valid, but in the real world of Washington politics, the argument is an absolute joke. Sure, liberals conclude that a Republican majority in Congress will always reflect conservative values, things like fiscal restraint, for instance, even if the Senate and House continue to vote for cash-draining pork barrel projects, feel-good programs like No Child Left Behind, and expanded Medicare giveaways.
Has anyone ever envisioned how, or who, is going to oversee and fund a “comprehensive immigration reform” program that would grant citizenship to “decent” people who have already broken federal laws? What federal department would handle the processing of, at a minimum, 12 million people? Where would the funds come from? Would it be necessary to create an entirely new Department of Illegal Immigrants to set another layer of Washington bureaucracy in motion?
If President Bush and his Republican supporters want to assimilate people who are guilty of Social Security identification theft and tax evasion, ask them how are they’re going to handle this, who’s going to fund this nightmare—but don’t ask a Conservative. You see, there is a difference.
Conservatives typically practice frugal governance.
Republicans are Conservative.
Therefore, Republicans practice frugal governance.
If it were only so.
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