If you enjoy revisionist history, demagogic lectures and fairy tales, believe that Big Government Democratic legislation since the 1930s will result in the United States becoming a socialist, fascist or communist country, long for the days when economic royalists and robber barons, past and present, know what’s best for the  economy, and that Americans should swim or sink without a government safety net, you’re probably a believer in Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy of  “… government is best which governs least…” 

So come on down and join the blame Big Government crowd for all the U.S. ills that will be spoken about ad infinitum at the March Madness get-together known as the American Conservative Union (CPAC) Convention in Washington, D.C., March 14-16, and listen to the repetitive rants of speakers saying, “If only the government would stay out of our lives, all our ills would be cured and only neo-conservatives, extreme right wing politicians and organizations such as the Heritage Foundation have saved America from a dictatorship of the left.”

But what about Adam Smith quotes like, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”  Or, “It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”

Confused.  Not too worry. 

All will be explained by such well-respected new age philosophers like Sarah Palin, Allen West, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, all of whom were rejected by most voters in recent elections, Rand Paul, as well as Mr. Self Promotion, whose name I need not mention because he is so well known as a “birther,” and, of course, that eminent guardian of the U.S.  

Constitution and defender of Americans having the right to massacre each other, Wayne LaPierre.

After many decades of  listening to the delusional sky is falling rants of the anti- Big Government self-anointed saviors who are trying to save Americans from leftish conspiracies, it’s time to look at their so-called evils that has befallen the country since President Roosevelt tried to right the wrongs of an unjust society in the 1930s.

Just several of the right wing so-called evils that Big Government advocates have enacted are: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, a national health program, women’s right to choose, fair voting rights legislation, child labor laws, unemployment insurance, wage and hour rules, educational initiatives, government regulations to control the exploitation of Americans by businesses, banks and brokerage firms and so many other programs that have been enacted to help citizens that the radicals claim are stifling their dream of “money über alles.”

And what has the anti-Big Government crowd stood for?

Legislation that would, and does, give the states the right to control women's health choices, deregulations  of airlines and train routes, which often makes what was a three hour trip into a day long adventure; also destruction of our forests, strip mining,  companies poisoning and polluting our waters by dumping manufacturing waste into rivers, oceans and lakes, companies skirting our tax laws by utilizing off-shore tax havens, standing by silently as companies violate intern laws by having them do prohibited work that is supposed to be done by regular employees, who are terminated and immediately asked to back as consultants  so the companies don’t have to provide benefits, higher gasoline prices, house foreclosures, banks to big to fail,  brokerage firms and insurance companies  that exploited Americans and America and resulted in the deepest depression since the Hoover administration, tax loopholes that benefit only the wealthy, tax laws that are so beneficial to manufacturing organizations that the U.S. industrial base has been destroyed as companies jump from low-wage-to-lower-wage countries. To sum it up, the anti- Big Government crowd stands for less laws that benefit America and most Americans and more laws that benefit the wealthy and businesses.

But as much as they decry the aid that Big Government provides to citizens in need, when disasters like hurricanes, cyclones and  floods devastate  Small Government communities, ultra-conservative elected officials do not see any evil in asking Big  Government for help.

I might have more respect for the small- government CPAC advocates if they would gather on the steps of Congress on July 4th and pledge to return any Social Security checks that they receive to the U.S. Treasury and introduce legislation that would abolish their government provided healthcare, which they want to deprive non- members of Congress from receiving.

Stephen Sondheim wrote a great song called Send in the Clowns for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music. Its lyrics include, “But where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns. Don't bother, they're here.”

The lyrics meaning had nothing to do with the CPAC conference.  But it certainly can apply.

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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected]