Enemies of State

Historically, nothing has terrified conservatives so much as efficient, effective, activist government. "A thoroughly first-rate man in public service is corrosive," the former president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argued in an interview published in the journal Nation's Business in 1928. "He eats holes in our liberties. The better he is and the longer he stays the greater the danger. If he is an enthusiast -- a bright-eyed madman who is frantic to make this the finest government in the world -- the black plague is a housepet by comparison."

One reason: Governing well in the interests of the broad majority brings compounding political benefits for the party of government. Consider the famous December 2, 1993 memo by William Kristol entitled "Defeating President Clinton's Health Care Proposal." The notion of government-guaranteed health care had to be defeated, he said, rather than compromised with, or else: "It will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will at the same time strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class by restraining government." Kristol wrote on behalf of an organization called the Project for a Republican Future. The mortal fear is that if government delivers the goods, the Republicans have no future.

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