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Liberals who might otherwise viscerally oppose President Bush and his team on ideological (if not logical) grounds smell success in the necessary expansion of government during wartime. Their assumption -- unfortunately borne out by history -- is that once government is expanded, there is no reversing the trend, regardless how much economic and foundational sense it makes. The only recent blip in that trend was the Reagan Revolution, a fact that makes the smell of returning big government so much the sweeter for the left.

Senator Chuck "Uncle Joe" Schumer (D-NY) made the point most succinctly in a recent Washington Post op-ed:

"The era of a shrinking federal government has come to a close. From 1912 to 1980, the federal government grew with little interruption. The modern conservative movement, beginning with Barry Goldwater in 1964 and attaining power with Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980, argued that Washington had grown too large, too inefficient and too out of touch. Even liberals had to admit there was some truth to this argument. For the next two decades, the federal government stopped growing, and by some measures even shrank, with Bill Clinton doing more of the shrinking than any other president. But our new situation has dramatically reversed that trend. Within a few years, those like Dick Armey and Tom DeLay, who believe that any time the federal government moves, its fingers should be chopped off, will be fighting an increasingly desperate rear guard action."

"But the 'new' New Deal is upon us. The president can either lead the charge or be run over by it."

For those that remember (or care to study) the "old" New Deal of the Roosevelt administration, there is realization -- good or bad -- that FDR established the norm for the overpowering welfare state, a system of expectation and entitlement that slowly strangled not only traditional American independence, self-reliance and faith-based community service, but also provided a self-propelled, open-ended formula for continued bloat in government.

In addition, every major American war since the War of 1812 -- except the Gulf War of Bush I -- has provided an excuse for the vast expansion of both government spending and intrusion into formerly private matters. War costs money -- lots of money -- and requires a special harnessing of national resources. When the fighting is finished, war debts must be paid. But somehow, the level of federal spending never settles back to anywhere near what it had been just prior to the outbreak.

Our two World Wars in the last century each boosted federal spending by 300% -- permanently. Other wars, including those of the nineteenth century, have typically added 100-150%. Needless to say, taxes rise right along with spending. There may also be some not-so-benign logic behind the fact that every American war in the twentieth century, except the aforementioned Gulf War, exploded during a Democratic watch.

Evidently there are always folks like Chuck Schumer around when war clouds loom. Ready to cut themselves a new deal on the back side of national defense.

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