What Price Victory?

Joe Klein sums up very well the current political scene. Politically, the Bush administration has outsmarted the Democrats at every turn. But the price has been abandonment of what used to be considered conservative principles. The administration’s pork-laden energy bill and the about-to-be-passed Medicare expansion likely signal the end, for the foreseeable future, of small-government conservatism as a potent political force. Klein writes:
“The week’s events illuminate a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans on domestic policy. The Democrats are boxed into complicated and unpopular positions because they tend to stand on principle