I also like the idea of less government, but unfortunately government control is needed and here to stay.
The dot.com meltdown did not mess up the countries economy. The unrestrained free wheeling Corporate CEO’s, Boardrooms and Wall Street power brokers pushed the entire world toward recession. That was the result of the Republican free enterprise ideal.
But change does not take place overnight and Congress is essentially ineffective. The President and those that put him in office are in charge and in contol (and I’m not talking about the voters than can be misled with advertising, sound bites and misinformation like WMD). Congress can only nitpick and make minor changes to whatever the Pres submits.
Stripped down military spending did not prevent Bush from starting a few wars. And we sure have enough of it now. Remember that Vietnam was upscaled by another Republican Texan oil man. And Nixon didn’t need any congressional resolution to bomb Cambodia or Laos.
The Russians also had trouble with Afghanistan, why would we have fared any better to stablize a country that was a mess for centuries. Reagan had the right idea with Grenada – get in and get out!
But no one is blamless when it comes to the current spending madness! Not even the anti-spending politicans are refusing to accept and spend the money.