“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” ― George Orwell
When conservatives talk about small government, they mean a government so small it cannot help anyone who needs help. Their small government means no funding for welfare, rent assistance, or food stamps. No paid parental leave, subsidized daycare, free or discounted higher education or Medicaid expansion. It is a government that puts profits over people. It dismantles business regulations and scraps OSHA, the EPA, the FDA, and the USDA. (Although subsidies to Industrial Farming and Big Oil stay funded)
That is not to say that conservatives do not like to spend money. Of course, they do. They only want to spend it on the military, law enforcement, prisons, and pointless crony-benefiting exercises like border walls.
But this desire to keep the government out of people’s financial affairs is not matched by a desire to keep the government out of people’s private business. Dear God, no. Conservatives, especially the religious ones (and that is most of them) think that the government should legislate morality. Individual liberty? That’s a laugh. When it comes to government interfering with the citizens, conservatives would make the Soviets blush with their intrusion. They may not believe in big government, but they sure as hell believe in Big Brother.
In the conservative's Eden, the government decides who can marry whom — and who cannot. Gays? No way. Miscegenation? Not on my watch. Sodomy? I suspect in their fantasy, conservatives would have a camera installed in every bedroom to make sure no one was straying from the same-race, heterosexual missionary way of doing things. God forbid the woman should be on top. And they would ban contraception, along with sex toys.
Next up, schools. The state will design the curricula. And discard truth to shield white kids' feelings. The authorities will replace science with superstition. And re-institutionalize racism. Book burnings will be the order of the day. And 451ºF will be enshrined as the great patriotic temperature.
And talking of patriotism, they will mandate the Pledge of Allegiance. And send students, who opt-out, to detention. And require kids to stay in their gender box. They will mandate conversion therapy for all who fall short of heteronormalcy. And any teacher who strays from orthodoxy, or even mentions diversity or compassion, will face criminal charges.
When the dust settles, these schools will stand as proudly close-minded as any fundamentalist madrasa or Hassidic yeshiva. Intellectual orthodoxy will suffocate any thought of individualism. And academic liberty will be an oxymoron.
Conservatives have an even larger big government for women. They will criminalize the right to choose. And discard women’s self-autonomy. They will presume miscarriage to be murder unless the woman can prove otherwise. Rapists will have parental rights. And incest will lead to mothers who are half-sister to their own child.
They will chip away at anti-discrimination laws. And shunt women back into the kitchen. Spousal rape will again be legal. And a woman with bruises will be presumed to be ‘clumsy’ or ‘accident prone’. The disabled can expect a similar outcome. Conservatives will water down the ADA, before finally flushing it.
Small government? Please. The conservative goal is a theocracy, the biggest of all big governments. Religion will inform all aspects of society. A Christian Sharia will be the law of the land. How long before dress codes and enforced modesty? They will divide the sexes. Women will lose the right to property and any financial independence.
If at this point, the reader thinks this diary has gone from a sober analysis of conservative aims to hysterical overreaction, I hope they are right. But before the “it can’t happen here” philosophy becomes too deeply rooted, consider this. There is support among some conservative Christians for “Dominion Theology” (aka “dominionism”). Even in its mildest form, this version of Christian overreach requires the national laws to be grounded in biblical precepts.
To get around the idea there is a wall separating religion from government the Christian fundamentalist argues it is a one-way wall. The government may not interfere in individual religious liberty. But on the other hand, citizens are free to impose their religious vision on the government. This seems a bit like having your cake and eating it. And it does not explain how it preserves the religious liberty of non-Christians when the laws mandate Christian beliefs.
At its worst, dominionism embraces theonomy (from theos [god] and nomos [law]). And this is where it gets truly scary. The advocates of theonomy believe biblical law - as in Moses and the Old Testament - should be American law.
Under this draconian code, they could impose the death penalty for homosexuality, witchcraft, adultery, and cursing your parents. The full power of Leviticus would be a daily reality for every American. And we would all be forced to live under laws formulated by a petty and jealous God, whose first four commandments were a demand we suck up to Him and Him alone. Although, we should note there is zero evidence that these sadistic and petty laws were written by anyone other than some Stone Age killjoys who probably were not getting laid. Which I offer would explain the obsession with sex.
And do not get me started on the 'Seven Mountains' theology. This philosophy says that fundamentalist Christianity should provide the framework for religion, government, family, education, media, arts/entertainment, and business. It sounds like a description of hell.
Anyway, whatever happens, we must lay to rest the idea that conservatives have any interest in small government. They want a government so big that it puts every citizen in a religious cage from conception to death. And ultimately, it is liberals who believe in individual liberty and personal freedom. The same way the Founders did.