Posted by
C-Hayes on Saturday, November 15, 2008 3:38:55 PM
To be honest, these days it seems as if there are no discernible differences between Democrats and Republicans.
But just maybe...Republicans want less "big government" than Democrats do. That line for less big government is drawn at the auto bailout.
So why is President Bush (yes, he's still the President) expected to veto an auto bailout?
Probably because the true motivation behind the auto bailout isn't saving working class jobs. It's control.
Here's the deft summary from syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer:
"Once the government owns Detroit, it can remake it. The euphemism here is 'retool' Detroit to make cars for the coming green economy.
"Liberals have always wanted the auto companies to produce the kind of cars they insist everyone shoulddrive: small, light, green and cute. Now they will have the power to do it.
"In World War II, government had the auto companies turning out tanks. Now they would be made to turn out hybrids. The difference is that, in the middle of a world war, tanks have a buyer. Will hybrids? One of the reasons Detroit is in such difficulty is that consumers have been resisting the smaller, less powerful, less safe cars forced on the industry by fuel-efficiency mandates. Now Detroit would be forced to make even more of them.
"If you think we have economic troubles today, consider the effects of nationalizing an industry of this size, but now run by bureaucrats issuing production quotas to fit five-year plans to meet politically mandated fuel-efficiency standards -- to lift us to the sunny uplands of the coming green utopia.
"Republican minimalism -- saving the credit-issuing utilities -- certainly risks not doing enough. But the Democratic drift toward massive industrial policy threatens to grow into the guaranteed inefficiencies of command-economy maximalism."
Lest you think Democrats really want what's best for you...