Fred Barnes: We Are What We Own
When running for re-election in 2004, and again last year as he campaigned for Social Security reform, President Bush repeatedly advocated an "ownership society." It was a bold concept aimed at producing a historic shift in power from Washington bureaucrats to individual Americans. But "ownership society" is not a phrase you're likely to hear from him tonight in his State of the Union address. Instead, he is expected to take a more conventional--and politically palatable--approach....
Where the phrase "ownership society" came from, nobody knows, not even Mr. Bush or political adviser Karl Rove. Nor did the program emerge in full form. Rather, it was patched together, like FDR's New Deal, from a handful of programs. By 2004, it consisted of five separate proposals: Social Security private accounts, flexible "lifetime" IRAs, HSAs, tax reform and home ownership assistance. Taken together, these represent a new direction in domestic policy. They would give individuals far more control over their own money. Individuals would decide how their payroll taxes were invested. They would have access to their IRA funds at all times without paying a penalty for early withdrawal. They would be encouraged to be more self-reliant and responsible and less reliant on government.
Liberals regard an ownership society with loathing. After all, it goes against 70 years of national policy in favor of expanding the size and scope of the federal government and the power of government officials. With the New Deal, JFK's New Frontier and LBJ's Great Society, government grew and grew, with liberals providing the impetus. For a half-century, conservatives have sought to reverse this trend and both slash federal spending and reduce the size of government. President Reagan briefly pared federal spending (1981) and Newt Gingrich, with the "Republican revolution," mounted a fleeting assault (1995) on it. But in trying to cut the supply of government, both essentially failed.
The notion behind the ownership society is that growth of government can never be halted by attacking supply. Only reducing the demand for government holds a promise of working. With individuals allowed to decide how to save, invest and handle their health-care expenses, they'd demand less from government. Or so the notion goes. GOP national chairman Ken Mehlman refers to this as demand-side conservatism.
The desire to shrink government by any means seems a bit odd coming from Mr. Bush. Having declined to veto any spending bills--or anything else--in the five-plus years of his presidency, he's often associated with the rapid growth of government. In fact, two years ago on this page, I dubbed him a big government conservative. To many, this signified Mr. Bush is a liberal. He's not. A better label for Mr. Bush is strong government conservative.
In any case, he now believes an ownership society would foster a wave of self-sufficiency. "I think part of government's responsibility is to encourage certain cultures," he told me. "And a primary cultural change that I have been trying to instill ever since I got into public office" is a fresh "period of personal responsibility." Ownership "does a lot of things." One of them, Mr. Bush continued, is to increase "independence from government. Government sometimes, because you're dependent on it, undermines the sense of personal responsibility." Ownership also gives people "a vital stake in our country," he said. "There's a direct link between participation and ownership, participation and democracy and ownership." ...
Read entire article at WSJ
Where the phrase "ownership society" came from, nobody knows, not even Mr. Bush or political adviser Karl Rove. Nor did the program emerge in full form. Rather, it was patched together, like FDR's New Deal, from a handful of programs. By 2004, it consisted of five separate proposals: Social Security private accounts, flexible "lifetime" IRAs, HSAs, tax reform and home ownership assistance. Taken together, these represent a new direction in domestic policy. They would give individuals far more control over their own money. Individuals would decide how their payroll taxes were invested. They would have access to their IRA funds at all times without paying a penalty for early withdrawal. They would be encouraged to be more self-reliant and responsible and less reliant on government.
Liberals regard an ownership society with loathing. After all, it goes against 70 years of national policy in favor of expanding the size and scope of the federal government and the power of government officials. With the New Deal, JFK's New Frontier and LBJ's Great Society, government grew and grew, with liberals providing the impetus. For a half-century, conservatives have sought to reverse this trend and both slash federal spending and reduce the size of government. President Reagan briefly pared federal spending (1981) and Newt Gingrich, with the "Republican revolution," mounted a fleeting assault (1995) on it. But in trying to cut the supply of government, both essentially failed.
The notion behind the ownership society is that growth of government can never be halted by attacking supply. Only reducing the demand for government holds a promise of working. With individuals allowed to decide how to save, invest and handle their health-care expenses, they'd demand less from government. Or so the notion goes. GOP national chairman Ken Mehlman refers to this as demand-side conservatism.
The desire to shrink government by any means seems a bit odd coming from Mr. Bush. Having declined to veto any spending bills--or anything else--in the five-plus years of his presidency, he's often associated with the rapid growth of government. In fact, two years ago on this page, I dubbed him a big government conservative. To many, this signified Mr. Bush is a liberal. He's not. A better label for Mr. Bush is strong government conservative.
In any case, he now believes an ownership society would foster a wave of self-sufficiency. "I think part of government's responsibility is to encourage certain cultures," he told me. "And a primary cultural change that I have been trying to instill ever since I got into public office" is a fresh "period of personal responsibility." Ownership "does a lot of things." One of them, Mr. Bush continued, is to increase "independence from government. Government sometimes, because you're dependent on it, undermines the sense of personal responsibility." Ownership also gives people "a vital stake in our country," he said. "There's a direct link between participation and ownership, participation and democracy and ownership." ...