Op-ed: The Conservative Movement: Principally a bankrupt ideology

The headline of Tuesday’s Washington Post reads: “FEMA Plans to Repay Faith Groups for Aid”. The article, which reports on efforts by Congress and the administration to reimburse faith-based organizations for the aid they have provided in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, primarily emphasizes the problems such reimbursements would create under the doctrine of separation of church and state. From a more fundamental perspective, however, the push for reimbursements by Republican leaders and conservative groups illuminates just how ideologically bankrupt the conservative movement has become.

Reagan Republicans, Republican Revolutionists, and the Bushies used to argue for limited government based on the principle that private charity was the more effective and virtuous avenue for directing aid to the needy. This argument was a corollary of the proposition that private markets always produce more efficient outcomes than markets marked by government intervention. The theory went that instead of devising big government programs concerned with the general welfare we should shrink government, cut taxes, and let charitable organizations funded by private donations provide solace and support to those in need. This principle was no small part of the conservative ideology. And, as we find out, it’s no part at all of the conservative practice.

Bush, Cheney, Rove, Frist, DeLay, Norquist, Abramoff, George Will, the Heritage Foundation and the rest of the Conservative Movementarians remembered the tax cutting part of the formula, at least for the jet set crowd. Unfortunately, in their haste to raid the piggybank they seem to have forgotten the part about private charities being the better resource for allocating altruism. Under the proposed scheme private charities will become public charities financed by the U.S. taxpayer. To make matters worse, the religious right has evidently begun taking its cues from Halliburton. Why compete in the private sector when the Republicans have opened Uncle Sam’s wallet like Bill Bennett at Bally’s to anyone on the Right side of things?

Apparently the point is not – as free market capitalists would have us believe – that government prima facie should not undertake certain activities, rather the point is that government should give money to Republican constituencies to undertake those same activities. (It’s considered a bonus if there’s a chance to proselytize along the way.) Then instead of bloated government, we’ll have bloated fat cats. Of course we’ll have bloated budget deficits too but that doesn’t matter to the folks who are lining their pockets and stocking the coffers of the RNC. If you’ve got an invite, it really is a Grand Old Party!

The conservative movement has gone from the principled (but wrong) argument that government should not intervene to provide for the general welfare because it crowds out donations to private charities, which otherwise would achieve more optimal outcomes, to the unprincipled (and still wrong) practice that churches that open their doors to those in need should suckle off the teat of Lady Liberty. Market intervention is market intervention. But apparently conservative ideology is more malleable. In any case, the doctrinal wellspring of conservatism has run dry. Say an ode; hold your nose.

-This post was written by Brookland Clipmonkey.