THIS would be too much government, FYI

Frequently, my libertarian friends here on the blog accuse me of loving Big Government so much that I’ve never seen an expansion of it that I didn’t like.

Not true. And in his column today, George Will reminded me of a Trump proposal that I regard as an utterly unwarranted and highly objectionable expansion of government:

Watch Trump on YouTube and consider his manner in light of his stupendously unconservative proposal, made one day earlier, for a federal police force. (It would conduct about 500,000 deportations a month to remove approximately 11.4 million illegal immigrants intwo years).

I am completely opposed to turning this nation into a police state.

Remember this next time you wonder where I would draw the line.

10 thoughts on “THIS would be too much government, FYI

  1. Doug Ross

    We don’t need to do mass deportations. We need to do enhanced enforcement of existing laws to punish those who employ illegals and then also cut off all access to any public schools or government programs.
    Remove the carrot and you don’t need the stick.

  2. bud

    Trump has found something that should cause him trouble – more government spending. Not sure the voters are paying much attention at this point. But once one of his rivals demonstrates how much this will cost it could be his Achilles Heel.

    Current GOP odds:

    Rubio 50%
    Cruz 25%
    Christie 10% (I sense he’s getting another look following the Paris bombings)
    Carson 5%
    Trump 5% (Trump and Carson still polling well but I stubbornly predict a fall. But keeping them as viable longshots for not)
    Bush 3% (He has the endorsements, name and money. Should be polling better than 4%)
    The Rest 2% (Given the chaos in the GOP I’ve bumped the professor and Mary Ann up from 1%)

    1. Kathryn Fenner

      I read a New Yorker piece that convincingly explained that Donald Trump has cracked the nut of how to reach working class white voters who were turned off by Mitt Romney. They aren’t idealogues–they aren’t wedded to a conservative theory. They want their jobs protected, especially from *those* people, and so on. Trump is not conservative, but he appeals to many potential GOP voters.

        1. Doug Ross

          It’s more than being a populist. It’s being someone who does things (good or bad, garish or not). Not everyone can turn millions into billions. He has a certain set of skills that can’t just be labeled “populist”. If that were the case, any of the other candidates could say the exact same things and move up in the polls. It’s not just what he says, it is what he does.

          1. Brad Warthen Post author

            What, pray tell, has he DONE? I’ve seen no indication that he has ever done anything remotely like any of the things he’s promising to do — things he says will be easy, because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As you say, all he’s ever done is make money. And he is living proof that it doesn’t take any special qualities to do that.

            I usually disagree with Bud when he says making money is all about luck. But Trump is proof that, at the least, it doesn’t require any sterling qualities…

              1. Brad Warthen Post author

                Assuming he is, really, a great negotiator — I have no idea — I suspect it’s from being so unbearable. Think about it: You can tell he’d be willing to talk forever. How long would YOU be able to listen to him? Not long, I’d guess. People probably give him concessions just to put an end to the meeting.

                But all they’re doing is conceding money — which he probably imagines is the most important thing in the world, which means he doesn’t understand people who value power, or their respective nations’ interests, more highly. Do you think Putin’s going to do something he doesn’t want to do — such as give up backing Assad? No way. He’d let Trump blather, and entertain himself by sitting there daydreaming about what he’d do to The Donald if he had him in a dank room in Lubyanka prison…

  3. Pat

    Definitely draw the line at police state and also at a Muslim registry/database. Some of the things Trump says is just plain scary. I know he has to be reported on to a certain extent, but I really wish journalists wouldn’t call him and ask him what he would do in the case of the Paris attack, etc. It’s like they are trying to help him look presidential. I also wish they wouldn’t use polls to rank them for debates and to line them up on stage. It would be better to put them up there in alphabetical order.

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