Feb 14 2009
Dubious “Stimulus” Passes Despite Unanimous House Republican Opposition
On Friday, February 13, 2009, the House of Representatives passed the $787 billion economic “stimulus” package, consisting of $281 billion in tax cuts and $506 billion in additional government spending. I welcome the tax cuts and oppose most of the new spending, and on balance the stimulus is likely to be detrimental – but there is one aspect of this vote that is quite encouraging.
As this article by Andrew Taylor reports, every single House Republican voted against the “stimulus.” This might mean that Republicans have finally begun to revert to once again being a voice for limited (or at least more limited) government.
The Republican Party went on a horrifying spree of spending, inflation, regulation, human rights violations, corruption, and incompetence during the past eight years. Republicans deserved to lose massively in both 2006 and 2008. Now they are once again in the opposition. Because they do not control the government anymore, and Obama is from the “other” party, Republicans – even the highly unprincipled ones – have an incentive to oppose Obama’s favored policies simply because he is Obama. This might lead them – perhaps inadvertently – to support free markets and oppose further expansions of government power. Perhaps they will pull enough Democrats to their side to block some further regulatory and spending increases. Seven Democrats in the House did vote against the “stimulus,” and more might come to oppose Obama on future measures.
I hope, for the sake of the future of all Americans, that Republicans do a better job in the opposition than they did in government.
Sincerely,
Gennady Stolyarov II
