Vive la Canada!
by John Reit (May 10, 2006)

I can't remember when I've been so excited about this kind of political leadership. Since taking office, this party has introduced a federal budget that cuts income, sales, business, corporate and excise taxes. There's also a credit of $1075 per child per year so that families have more money to pay for childcare. Not only that, the new budget calls for an increase spending for military and border security - including $1.3 billion to add armed border patrol officers. It's invigorating! It's almost like the second coming of Ronald Reagan. I only wish it was all taking place in my country.

Okay. If you have a hat, this would be the time to hold onto it. I like Canada! I never thought the day would come when I would say that. For most of my political consciousness, the Great White North has been the antithesis of what I believe in - a socialist's paradise, if you will. But I'll admit, ever since the Conservative Party and Prime Minister Stephen Harper won power from the Liberals in 2005, I've grown green with envy over the changes being made.

Actually, Canada's recent journey toward rationality came before its elections when the Supreme Court ruled that Canadians could opt out of the country's national health care system and purchase private insurance. Somehow, they could read the big, bold writing on the wall that we, and many European countries, cannot. About the same time this was happening, our own so-called "conservative" party was passing the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan - the largest increase in socialized spending since the Great Society. So, while Canada has been helping its citizens take more responsibility for their health care, we've been stepping up the political pandering. And I doubt we've seen the last of it. In fact, I predict a situation in which our citizens are the ones crossing the border to seek quick and accessible Canadian health care before we learn our lesson.

Furthering their country's transformation, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty presented the federal budget last Tuesday. He promised a reduction in the national sales tax from 7 to 6 percent, along with cuts in consumption, business, and corporate taxes. Feast your eyes upon Flaherty's eloquent words:

Almost makes you wish you were Canadian, doesn't it?

Now I should give credit where credit is due. There have been signs that our Republicans are starting to open their conservative playbooks again. A few weeks ago, President Bush suspended purchases for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and authorized waivers of some environmental fuel regulations in an effort to lower consumer gas prices. And this week, Congressional Republicans passed an extension of the President's tax cuts.

But a pre-election sprint of conservatism doesn't exactly erase six years of record deficits, the afore mentioned Medicare Prescription Plan, No Child Left Behind, a failure to pass approval to drill in ANWR (or any other slap in the face of environmentalists), farm subsidies, a highway bill filled with pork, failure to reform Social Security, hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to Hurricane Katrina victims, and countless other Democrat-like behaviors I'm sure I'm forgetting - in short... a betrayal of the principles that got them elected. And when conservatives are spending like liberals, why not just elect the liberals? Forgive me, but I'm not filled with the hope that America is moving away from the kind of economic system against which we fought an 80 year Cold War.

It's certainly not the same spirit the Canadians are experiencing right now. It's sticking to principles on one side of the border, and abandoning them on the other. While we look on with envy, Canada's next few years will probably be filled with the kind of momentous reform that allowed Reaganomics to undo four horrible years of Jimmy Carter.

The conservatives in America, by contrast, seem to be moving in the opposite direction. But why? Weren't a Republican Congress, Senate, and White House supposed to be the answered prayer for many of us? Bartlett hypothesizes in his book, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, that one of the reasons our federal government was able to reduce our deficit during the 90s was gridlock between the House and the Clinton administration. Every time Clinton wanted to pass some kind of new entitlement program, the Republicans were there to stop him. It's what allowed federal spending to be reduced, or at the very least, cease from increasing. With George W., there is no one to say, "no." The House has pretty much given him whatever he's wanted and he's yet to veto anything they've passed. And what they've passed has been an obvious attempt to bring those on the fence over to their side rather than staying loyal to the conservative base that put them in office.

So, one has to wonder if it would have been better if Kerry had won in 2004. It's almost certain the man would have been such a failure - maybe equal to or greater than Carter - two things would have happened: First, there would have been political gridlock to get spending under control. Second, at the end of four dreadful years, there would have been probably would have been a resurgence of conservatism in this country, much like the Reagan revolution in the early eighties.

The Canadians are lucky enough to be experiencing one now. And it pains me that I envy them. I once thought that since the Reagan, Republicans had the standard by which to govern - a proven formula. Surely, once they held two branches of government, they would show Americans how wonderful smaller government and a less-regulated economy can be. And yes. While we have the short-term benefit of a healthy economy, we still have the long-term decay of an ever-growing national debt and a government that seems to be expanding with every passing year.

Logically, it shouldn't be like this. We've seen results from both policies. We've seen degeneration under entitlements, protectionism, and high taxes. And we've seen prosperity under conservatism, free trade, and lower taxes. But it seems as though a new generation has grown up under Clintonomics and has been infused with the notion that it is possible to have one's cake and eat it, too. It's the only reason I can see for the rampant pandering by the party in power. Unfortunately, I believe it will take another horrid economy like the one Carter left behind to generate another Reaganesque revolution. I only hope we have the strength exhibited by our neighbors to the North.