Misplaced conservative ideals

Re “When small isn’t beautiful,” Opinion, Oct. 30

Jonah Goldberg takes a very long-winded tome of Gipper nostalgia to claim that Americans simply don’t want smaller government, so better to have big Republican government than big Democratic government. His simplistic theory misses the nonpolitical truth: People really just want a government that works.

Big Democratic government raises taxes and gives away money to welfare recipients with no incentive to rise above their situation, and that annoys hardworking Americans. Republican government cuts taxes for the wealthiest while using deficit spending to pay top dollar to no-bid contractors with cozy political ties. That also annoys hardworking Americans. So how do you get a government that works? Quit your political grandstanding, roll up your sleeves and work.

Terrence Hartwell

Toluca Lake

--

Goldberg misses the point that most conservatives build their small-government arguments around lower taxes but never follow through with the spending cuts to achieve their goals. He then concedes the fact that the populace wants both lower taxes and increased social spending. By pandering to this paradox, conservatives since Ronald Reagan have bridged the gap between lower taxes and big government by incurring a mountain of debt. Today’s Republicans running for the White House jostle to become the next Reagan so we can keep passing higher tax responsibilities on to our kids.

A bold, true conservative is now needed to treat Americans like adults when it comes to taxing and spending.

Alan M. Scolamieri

Long Beach

--

I have always admired the conservative movement’s principles. Now Goldberg advocates abandoning conservative principles to destroy the liberal agenda. “Give me liberty or give me death” is now “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

Pete Alberini

La Mirada

--

Goldberg falsely equates government-financed, privately delivered healthcare (Medicare, for example) with socialized medicine (Britain’s National Health Service or our Veterans Affairs Department healthcare, for example), in which healthcare providers are employees of the government. When will this canard go away?

John Glass

Studio City