Super-Size Federal Government

Steve Chapman reports:

The Republicans who now dominate Washington bring to mind Ann Darrow, the blonde heroine of the movie "King Kong." At first, she finds the enormous creature repulsive and terrifying, but once she gets to know him, she finds he's not so bad. Big government struck them as a thoroughly pernicious phenomenon when it was controlled by liberal Democrats. Once it became their tool and their toy, they had a change of heart.

The latest congressional actions make it painfully obvious that Republicans no longer have the slightest desire to diminish the size, cost or power of the central government. Last month, amid a great deal of self-congratulation, the House voted to eliminate $50 billion in entitlement spending. That sounds impressive until you consider that this year, Washington will spend some $2.6 trillion, and that these savings would be spread gently over five years.

For that matter, this plan doesn't actually cut total federal outlays. It merely reduces the annual rate of growth in entitlement spending from 5.4 percent to 5.2 percent.

No other area of America society could get away with lying like this.A cut in the "growth" rate is somehow a cut.