Big Government Does Not Make America Great
In yet another screed against the Tea Party, Van Jones offers a vehement defense of gigantic govenrment:
“At this point in this struggle, it’s the so-called patriots who are the ones who are smashing down every American institution,” Jones said last weekend in Milwaukee. “It’s the so-called patriots, the ones who come out here with their Tea Party and the flags and call themselves patriots — they’re the ones that are smashing down our unions, smashing down public education, smashing down every American institution that we built, and our parents built, and our grandparents built to make this country great.”
As is the wont of the statist, Van Jones confuses the country for its government, and America’s institutions for government bureaucracies. The institutions that truly make America great – the families, the churches, and the businesses – are not administered by appointed lackeys, nor found in federal budgets. They come from free peoples allowed to flourish relatively unencumbered by overbearing governments.
Posted by Brian Garst on Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Filed under Big Government, Culture & Society, Limited Government Conservatism Tagged with Tea Party, Van Jones 
Print This Post
My name is Brian Garst, and I am a libertarian-conservative blogger living in the DC area. I have a Master's degree in Political Science and work in public policy for a non-profit.
From Frederic Bastiat "The Law" back in 1850
"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all."
"We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain."
One of my favorite quotes. Thanks for sharing.
Brian – I saw Van Jones ' speech and nowhere did he say that the US was great because of the ingenuity of the American Spirit. His lack of the realization that this country is truly exceptional Because of the people he maligns is stunning. He sees the Tea Party as a threat to his ever expanding government and rightfully so.
My recent post Don’t Blame Chris Hayes – He can’t help it.
We need to not be afraid to admit that we intend to smash down their statist institutions. This election is about which institutions are to survive and which are to die. Either the unconstitutional bureaucracies must die, or the family, the church and our individual liberties must die. The two are not compatible.