Libertarians Call for Divided Government as Election Nears

Published on October 11, 2004 By blogic In Politics

It's no secret that the Libertarian Cato Institute has been fairly unhappy with Bush. Cato reports have strongly criticized Bush's handling of civil liberties -- especially as reflected in the Patriot Act -- and Bush's expansion of the Federal deficit -- caused by Bush's insistence on cutting taxes and increasing spending.

Still, after a 1990s in which the Cato Institute was generally supportive of Republicans, it says something when the Chairman of the Institute -- ex-Reagan official William Niskanen -- argues for divided government right before a presidential election. Here's some of what he has to say:

The annual increase in real federal spending during the current Bush administration ... has been 4.4 percent -- not a happy state of affairs, given the war and a renewed majority of the president's party in both chambers of Congress.

[snip]

My judgment ... is that the prospect for a major reform of the federal tax code, Medicare, or Social Security will be dependent on more bipartisan support than now seems likely in a united Republican government.

[snip]

American voters, in their unarticulated collective wisdom, have voted for a divided federal government for most of the past 50 years. Divided government is not the stuff of which legends are made. But the separation of powers is probably a better protection of our liberties when the presidency and the Congress are controlled by different parties.

For those who subscibe to Ronald Reagan's belief that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem", Bush is now part of the problem.

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