Two-Party System Woes

A particularly cringe-worthy exchange took place May 21st on Larry King Live. The exchange was between Jesse Ventura, the former (independent) governor of Minnesota and a philosophical libertarian, and Charlie Rangel and Robert Wexler, two Democratic congressmen. A snippet of the transcript is included for those of you that missed it:

Why I Disagree With Socialized Medicine

I’m very cynical of government. I think most people probably are. Henry David Thoreau said it best: “that government is best which governs least.”

Republicans aren’t shy about expressing their agreement. Reagan reiterated Thoreau (thanks, Katie!) with his famous zinger: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” I’m told that Ron Paul recently fumbled his way through a speech with similar meaning. It may or may not have been covered on C-SPAN 2.

Of course, not content with keeping the moral high ground, Republicans also want an overly meddlesome government.  They reconcile this contradiction by asserting that the government ought only to meddle in the lives of others*. This is evidenced by the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the promulgation and subsequent support of the so-called “Patriot” Act, an almost unanimously Republican base of support for the REAL ID Act, and a 63% increase in the federal budget between 2001 (Clinton’s last budget) and 2009 (Bush’s last budget).

Democrats’ views are equally confusing. Democrats in congress have voiced unwavering support of ending the war when their support has been absolutely meaningless. They’ve also continued to fund it. The Democratic Party berates the president over his deficit spending, touting Bill Clinton’s projected surplus** at the end of his term. In spite of this deficit-be-damned position that the Democrats take, both of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination (Barack Obama and the other one) are both championing nationalized healthcare.