CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Bush’s Compassionate Coercion”

“Last week, George W. Bush provided a clear-cut example of ‘compassionate conservatism.’ He claimed that John McCain is against breast-cancer research because McCain purportedly voted against government funding of such research — sort of like how a person hates the poor when he opposes a public-housing project. When reporters asked Bush if the State of Texas had increased funding for the project, he responded, ‘No, most of the money comes from the federal government.’ Bush promised to double federal spending on health research and to increase the budget of the National Institute of Health to $26 billion. So, this is ‘compassion’ according to the good governor. Don’t rely on individuals to do the right thing. Don’t even have the state government steal from Texas citizens to fund worthwhile projects. No, use the IRS to terrorize the American citizenry and expropriate their money. Then, politicians, bureaucrats, IRS agents, welfare recipients, and possibly even the taxpayers become automatic Mother Theresa saints. Also reflective of Bush’s ‘compassion’ was his response when he learned that McCain’s sister was suffering from breast cancer: ‘All the more reason to remind’ McCain of the importance of using government to fund the research. Unfortunately, instead of standing foursquare against coerced ‘compassion,’ McCain, the good Republican conservative that he is, ran for cover and claimed that he actually wanted to conserve the tax-and-welfare scheme.”