The DesMoines Register has finally come out and said what I've been thinking privately for a while: the Republicans' opposition to "big government" is nothing but smokescreen for their agenda of serving corporate interests before all others. Noting that under Bush II and a Republican Congress, government has grown at a record pace, the Register's staff conclude:

So maybe we can stop having the tiresome argument over Big Government vs. Small Government. The Republicans have shown themselves to be no different from the Democrats on that score.
The argument was always a little off-point anyway. The size of the government matters, but not as much as something else - whose side the government is on. Does it work for the general public or the favored few?

The debate is really between Big Military/Police/Corporate Subsidies and Big Social Support/Education/Environmental Protection. Or to put it another way, between monitoring your neighbors' reading habits and monitoring the accounting practices of billion-dollar corporations. It's your choice.

(Found via Blog forAmerica.)