The vast left-wing conspiracy

•diminution of welfare work requirements

• "clean" energy subsidies

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
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  A new day for U.S. manufacturing Did that really happen? In America?Recession the fault of the poor? Not exactly Baltimore Catholic schools: stronger, but still in need of help Did we learn anything from the subprime loan crisis? Seeking a comeback for Catholic education We're a nation of dependents, all right — dependent on rich corporations for jobs that pay a living wage How Republicans raided the welfare state and left it flat broke Ehrlich's thoughtless rhetoric is demeaning Understanding the deep roots of entitlement woes How the welfare state has grown — and sapped America's economy and culture Ehrlich should clarify his Chávez comments Ehrlich's name-calling is no substitute for reasoned argument On student loans, Hugo Chavez and Joe Flacco's taxes Real tax reform would force both sides to do some heavy lifting Blacks aren't in lock step with everything President Obama says From pride to disillusionment: a black leader sours on Obama GOP can't attract Democratic votes Sun always has room for Ehrlich's critics Conservatives seek to divide us Democrats riding high for now, but beware a midterm crash Ehrlich trades in mendacity Ehrlich is wrong about Obama and the Social Security disability program Ehrlich is wasting the opportunity he has been given Only liberal professors think?Disability insurance entitlement explodes under Obama The ultimate source of campus liberalism: Professors Young not so easily brainwashed Ehrlich misunderstands First Amendment The threat of liberal indoctrination: Is this the best Bob Ehrlich can come up with?As kids head to college, beware liberal groupthink On Obamacare, sequester and taxes: predictions revisited GOP can't hide true agenda Bring on the midterms: GOP still has plenty of opportunity for gains GOP lacks organization, power structure The 'stupid party'Ehrlich's column was full of fear-mongering and falsehoods Ehrlich sees red ACLU defended First Amendment at the Super Bowl Yes, elections have consequences, Mr. Ehrlich Ehrlich and the GOP need a reality check Romney's policies would have been Bush redux Ehrlich is wrong: Lower taxes don't spur growth or solve deficits Obama economics: More government means more growth End the self-destructive war on drugs Democrats strangely silent on clemency Obama's unpardonable neglect of clemency Voters are smart enough to see through the GOP smoke screen Skeptics notwithstanding, Clinton will accept responsibility for ambassador's death For Republicans, a not so happy New Year Ehrlich's right-wing diatribes rise to new level of hypocrisy Injecting Obamacare into economy will hurt -- a lot Unconscionable attacks on blacks who don't conform Despite 'discomfort' with capitalism, France must be doing something right Liberal journalists have distorted reality France's discomfort with capitalism The GOP lost because it's out of touch with the reality facing a majority of Americans today If the GOP doesn't change, it will lose again in 2016 How Republicans win in 2016 Conservatives still getting it wrong A platform for the next Republican nominee Republicans make themselves easy to beat Republicans failed for a reason Facts and opinions in election's aftermath Putting Benghazi in context Obama kicks butt in foreign policy Ehrlich clueless on foreign policy Obama's foreign policy reset has little to show for it Blacks and Republicans: an overdue debate The stakes in Syria Ehrlich is right that Obama's Mideast policy has failed As Middle East burns, Obama fiddles Occupy detractors must feel threatened The importance of Occupy Ehrlich carries 1 percent's water 'Occupy' is gone? We'll see in November Occupy movement got it right Occupy fizzled because it got America wrong The fight to win over the middle class A better voter ID law Jews have faith in Democrats Facts and opinions from the campaign Ehrlich is out of touch with American Jewish voters Ehrlich column offers distorted view of U.S.-Israeli relations Ehrlich asks the wrong question Jewish voters care about more than Israel Of course Obama has a plan for Medicare Beating the tax man is the national pastime of the wealthy America isn't Greece — at least not yet Ehrlich's column doesn't add up As a columnist, Ehrlich can no longer be bothered with the facts Ehrlich overreached in characterizing origins of the TSA Whether it's the economy or the Colorado shooting, the left and right view the world in predictable ways Ehrlich defends Jim Crow

•same day voter registration

•limitless unemployment benefits

It's a play straight from the Democratic National Committee's platform, an agenda that values collectivism over individualism, regulation over markets, and entitlement over freedom. Traditional notions of individualism, entrepreneurism, and pulling oneself up by the bootstraps are given periodic lip service, if at all. And it makes sense ... from the progressive's perspective. You see, this mindset covets limited economic horizons, energizes the redistribution of wealth, and generates the type of immense bureaucracy necessitated by the modern welfare state.

For context, watch (and listen to) the president. His rhetoric regularly celebrates big government, degrades individualism (recall the once popular "you didn't build that" narrative from Campaign 2012), and demands constant public sector growth, the better to spur economic activity.

The adherents do not pretend to advance balanced budgets or fiscal restraint. Rarely is their focus on private sector job growth or wealth creation. You see, their world is all about endless demands and the (tax) dollars required to feed them.

The good people who write the editorials on the facing page of this newspaper are wholly in tune with the foregoing agenda. They have opined as much over the last few decades. So, too, are the clear majority of voters in Blue State America, the formerly Free State of Maryland foremost among them.

But is America really on board? Is Reaganism now so 1980-ish? Has America truly become a center/left country on a comfortable glide path toward a European style social democracy?

I hope (and pray) this seismic shift can be stopped. How to proceed from the present state of things will be analyzed in next week's column.

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column appears Sundays. The former Maryland governor and Member of Congress is a partner at the law firm King & Spalding and the author of "Turn this Car Around" — a book about national politics. His email is ehrlichcolumn@gmail.com.

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Comments (110)

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rationalguy1 at 12:19 PM March 10, 2013

Half of your list has nothing to do with government intrusion:

•gay marriage

Oh yes, government should legislate to prevent gay marriage in the name of smaller government.

•multiculturalism

What does this have to do with the size of government?

•elimination of capital punishment

Oh yes, removing government's power to take human life as retribution for violation of its laws is SO big government, great call there.

•repeal of voter photo laws

Eliminating the ability for government to ask you for your papers when you go to vote is also VERY big government. Good logic there.

•women in combat

How radical that when the size of our military is shrinking (due to lack of interest) that we might want to use the other half of the population in combat. How does smaller government mean women are a weaker sex that has to be protected in combat by the bigger, stronger men?

•same day voter registration

Again, making it easier to register to vote is big government...make sense? I guess if you make voter accessibility a partisan issue...sure.

With mouthpieces like this guy, I completely understand why the Republican party is losing so much ground. The fact is that your party's position is incoherent. Being socially conservative while demanding smaller government is not a coherent platform. Being socially conservative requires a larger government to play nanny.

Justdisgusted at 11:11 PM February 06, 2013

Good to see some liberals who are so shocked at the truth they want to silence the writer. Yes they believe in free speech until they hear what they deny.

Hexexis at 7:04 AM February 05, 2013

I fail to see what is progressive about a more intrusive gov. (lower case): sounds 2 me as if the Gov. (upper case) is peddling this notion of vast left-wing conspiracy so that when we're saddled w/ a more intrusive gov. (lower case) that's the by-product of a vast right-wing conspiracy, we can only feel relieved.

But, really, what exactly, pray tell, is progressive about Pres. Obama, George Soros, Steven Spielberg? Just try to take what they got & see just how progressive they are.

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