A heads up to readers: Today, most of my blogging will be from the Conservative Political Action Conference, presented by the American Conservative Union. I'll have updates from various speakers and events, as well as tidbits from conference-goers and others.
This update comes courtesy of Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who used his speech -- and apparent business expertise -- to diagnose the economy. He says that he has seen a "slow and steady drift -- and in the last few years, a lurch -- toward a culture of entitlement." America's economic problems, high unemployment, and slow growth are each a product of this culture, and more broadly, government's steady expansion. To fix the economy, we need to return to our "founding principles of limited government" and -- of course -- cut spending.
If you've been reading TAP with any regularity, you know that this is wrong, and in the interest of brevity, I'm not going to rehash the reasons for its complete wrongness. I'll just say this: Ron Johnson's speech sounded less like policy and more like a statement of ideological purity. From beginning to end, Johnson articulated a vision of government that fit, to a tee, the shibboleths of the conservative movement. That's expected, yes, but in light of Michele Bachmann's opening speech -- where she made the case against ideological purity -- it's interesting.
