Some Republicans Outside the Senate Want to Embrace the Welfare State

Bruce Bartlett thinks caving is the solution. But history shows conservatism is a winning idea.

(Red State) - Dan Mitchell of the Cato Insitute responds:

Taking away goodies from people who want to feed at the public trough is never easy, but GOP successes in ‘80 and ‘94 - elections that led to meaningful constraint in domestic spending in subsequent years - show that the American people will respond favorably to a message of less government and more freedom. The Eisenhower and Nixon years, by contrast, demonstrated that “me-tooism” is a recipe for permanent minority party status.

Bartlett is urging conservatives to give up on core principles — an action that will lead to some fun receptions at the Obama White House in the short term, but liberal rule for a long period of time. If conservatives don’t give the American people a choice on tax policy, who will?