History of bipartisan government shows lower spending
Your editorials claim that bipartisanship caused our fiscal mess and that uncompromising partisanship is the solution. History does not support those claims.
In 2004, Doug Bandow reported on an analysis of government spending since 1953. Higher spending occurred when one party was in power, whether Republican or Democrat. Lower spending, lower taxes and more reforms occurred when government was divided.
Unlike currently, divided government historically has prompted bipartisanship. The greatest fiscal restraint occurred under Eisenhower, then Clinton, then Nixon-Ford and then Reagan, all with divided government and bipartisanship.
These periods also resulted in significant reforms in taxes, agriculture, telecommunications and welfare.
Real federal outlays grew fastest under Kennedy-Johnson, then George W. Bush and then Carter, all with partisanship. As for real domestic discretionary spending, the biggest spenders were George W. Bush, then Gerald Ford, then Nixon.
We have the opportunity and ability to address our needs. The stand-your-ground stance is squandering them.
Doug Bandow is a fiscal conservative, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation who served as a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.
Cephas Williamson
South patron mary Smith will be missed
Several weeks ago, a frail 92-year-old woman passed away who meant a lot to thousands of students, faculty members and parents of the South Side High School community – Mary Smith. Although her passing was not even a minor news event, she was part of a long legacy of excellence that was part of South Side during the last half of the 20th century. Her primary role was dean of girls, although she also had her hand in the boys’ activities, too.
Mary was tough but kind and always had the students and the school as her top priority. I never saw a more rabid sports fan – particularly when it came to the Archers and her beloved Purdue Boilermakers. If she couldn’t be there in person, she would watch or listen on local broadcasts. I was fortunate to know both she and her husband, Paul, because of their relationship with my parents and my subsequent years at South Side. Thank you, Mary Smith, for all that you did for us and the Fort Wayne community.
Robert J. Rogers
More limits on voting?
In Jonah Goldberg’s recent column about voting, he said he “wouldn’t mind tying eligibility to vote to passing the same citizenship test we require of immigrants,” noting that we might get fewer voters. Well, while we’re at it, why not narrow it further and limit voting to those who can pass the test and who also pay taxes? No, wait. How about wealthy homeowners and wealthy small-business owners, since they seem to know how the economy works? No, wait. How about just having big companies and the very wealthy run the show? Well, thanks to Citizens United, that’s what we already have!
Art Konwinski
Global warming
I read a headline today that read “Drought widest since 1956.” I wonder if they called it “global warming” back then, too.
It just seems that when we beat a temperature record of the past, this is no big deal; it was hot back in 1956 and we only beat it by degrees. This even happens in the winter when it gets colder like winter of 2010, and we still call it “global warming”?
Gary Schierling
Grabill
