Just what is a "small government Republican"?

[CTyankee]

Like Joe Scarborough used to be (or always says he was back in the day).

Is that different from a "big government Republican?" and how?

I'm serious. I know what WE think they are, but what did THEY "think" they were?

[BamaRefugee]

1. Someone who thinks the deficit should be like a million times bigger than the government itself?

F*ck all of those fake posers.

[CTyankee]

7. So it never really existed? It's just make-believe?

[JHB]

17. Not as one specific thing they all agree on

I've gone into what I mean downthread.

Objectively, it could mean something if it were important to them to hammer out the details. But it's not.

So the umbrella term gets thrown around a lot, and they direct all their anger at "the government" when what gets enacted is not what they, the rank and file, meant.

[The Wizard]

2. Out of the

board room and into your bedroom.

[Mariana]

3. If there ever were any such things, they are surely extinct now. nt.

[Atticus]

4. All I really know about it is that Lindsey Graham is 5'7". nt

[NurseJackie]

19. He's petite. He shops in the boy's section at JCPenney and Sears.

[doc03]

5. Back in the Clinton administration they were

all about the deficit until GWB then they didn't matter. Then when Obama took office they invented the Tea party
They claimed to be all about the deficit until Trump took office now they couldn't care less. In other words it was all total bull shit.

[JHB]

6. Everything and nothing

That's the magic of the phrase: It means different things to different people, and as long as you throw it around people think you're talking about their definition and not a substantially different one. This leads to a game of political 3-card Monte.

For instance, as small business owner probably has different parameters for the meaning than billionaires do, because the small business owner doesn't think that "big" government can be what stands in the way of the billionaire squishing him like a bug. But once "small government Republicans" get into office, it's the billionaire's version that will win out, policy-wise.

Same deal with "Christian", "family values", "religious freedom", etc.

[CTyankee]

8. So essentially, it just doesn't exist and never did (except as a phrase repubs liked to throw around

[JHB]

10. Pretty much. It's a phrase that sounds like what they want...

...but it gets conveniently expansive or narrow depending on who's talking (and who they're trying to persuade).

Joe knows what he means when he says it, but if he thinks it's the same meaning for Charles Koch or Sheldon Adelson he has his head up his ass. Again. Still.

[JHB]

13. Let me go for a more specific angle...

To a small town guy, it means cutting red tape and bureaucracy.

To conservative hardliners, it means reverting to a 19th-century government. Exactly what point in that century varies by individual wingnut, but they all want the freedom to run roughshod over the "lower orders" without interference from (and preferably with the help of) the government.

[CTyankee]

16. So each local government can make their own laws concerning school desegregation but

has to depend on the federal government to defend itself against an enemy of the U.S. in a time of war?

[JHB]

22. That's possible, but more specific than I was thinking of.

However, the general rule of thumb is: Whenever you hear someone (especially affluent white male someones) shouting about "government tyranny", it usually means that government is interfering with their ability to be tyrants in their own particular bailiwick.

Not that they'll act like tyrants, Lord knows, being such good-hearted souls, but if you get between them and their right to be tyrants, they feel free to cut you and gut you. And demand an apology from you.

[DBoon]

9. Someone who wants a government just big enough to protect you against your slaves

The sort of small government that the Confederacy wanted.

[OnDoutside]

11. I've been asking this question for ages. I wish someone would ask Scarborough.

[Blue_true]

12. Anyone who wants to drown government in a bathtub, but want government to

tell women what they can do with their bodies, but allow vapid discrimination against LQBTQ people and People of Color - while preventing redress for that discrimination.

[JHB]

14. And wants a superpower-grade military but also wants all the tax cuts.

[Blue_true]

24. Yep, that too. nt

[TheFarseer]

15. Ron Paul?

Not many of those types left.

Many want to get rid of services for American citizens but want endless wars and bailouts for corporations. Does that count?

[CTyankee]

18. who decides which is which?

[gratuitous]

20. Big enough to push women and minorities around

But small enough to be powerless to tax the wealthy.

[madinmaryland]

21. It's when Grover Norquist slips in the bathtub and drowns. Nt

[NotANeocon]

23. that's a nincompoop

who believes governing is a for profit business and not a non-profit service.