Do conservatives really care?

Artigo de Jonah Goldberg.

Katrina and Rita demonstrate to a certain extent how both compassionate conservatism and welfare-state liberalism alike are uncompassionate. Inheriting from the neocons a basic philosophical comfort with the concept of the welfare state, compassionate conservatism - which also goes by "big government conservatism" - sees no pressing need to pare government down to its core functions. Traditional conservatism, on the other hand, considers a lean government essential to the task of fulfilling its core responsibilities.

A great many liberals in recent weeks have argued that conservative hostility to big government suggests we don't support agencies such as FEMA or fire and rescue services. This is nonsense. Every conservative I know wants firemen to put out fires. We don't, however, want firemen asking us how our marriage is going or lecturing us about how to be more "sensitive." A fireman can't put out the fires at my house if he's at your house giving you a big hug.

Ultimately, this is the core problem with all ideologies that try to make government an extension of the family. Welfare-state liberalism wants the government to act like your mommy. Compassionate conservatives want the state to be your daddy. The problem: Government cannot love you, nor should it try.

Love empowers us to do some things government must never have the power to do and other things the government can almost never do well. Parents are real social engineers. I can arbitrarily force my child to eat, play and dress as I see fit - all in the hope this will make her a better person. I can punish her for making choices that are perfectly legal and reward her for making giant strides that look tiny or invisible to those in government, and which are none of their business anyway.