Eric Cantor Loss: One Down, 200 More Small-Government Fakers to Go

Cantor exemplifies what Sen.
Rand Paul (R-Ky.)just denounced as a “Chamber of
Commerce”-style GOP legislator, “the same-old, same-old,”
standard-issue Republican who has brought the party to a
historically low level of self-identification among
voters.

Cantor was what passes for a small-government conservative.
Which is to say that Cantor was in favor of shrinking the size and
scope and government…except for the endless list of exceptions that
allowed him to help grow federal spending by more than 50
percent in real terms, and regulatory spending by even more, during
the Bush years.

That’s from a new
Daily Beast column by me. I don’t think it’s at all clear
whether Eric Cantor’s primary loss will mean anything in the long
run, but I’m always happy to see politicians of his stripe get the
heave-ho.

I think it’s folly to talk about Cantor’s loss as meaning more
than the obvious: He perfectly represented the modal Republican in
that he talked about limiting government while actively growing its
reach in virtually every way. That is a supremely unattractive
character to be in contemporary American politics, and it helps
explain why Gallup finds
just 25 percent of Americans identify as Republicans (the news
isn’t rosy for Democrats, either, according to Gallup: Just 31
percent of Americans identify with that centuries-old
brand). 

Whole thing here.