Bush agenda would boost government

[Neil D]

Some conservatives concerned about federal reach

By Jim VandeHei

President Bush's second-term agenda would expand not only the size of the federal government but also its influence over the lives of millions of Americans by imposing new national restrictions on high schools, court cases and marriages.

In a clear break from Republican campaigns of the 1990s to downsize government and devolve power to the states, Bush is fostering what amounts to an era of new federalism in which the national government shapes, not shrinks, programs and institutions to comport with various conservative ideals, according to Republicans inside and outside the White House.

Bush is calling for new federal accountability and testing requirements for all public high schools, after imposing similar mandates on grades three through eight during his first term. To limit lawsuits against businesses and professionals, he is proposing to put a federal cap on damage awards for medical malpractice, to force class-action cases into federal courts and to help create a national settlement of outstanding asbestos-related cases.

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[:"blue"] I think we are begining to see the NEO-Conservative nature of Bush come out. IOWS, this was Bush's true nature. He's not just in the middle of the political road, he has moved to the far right, farther than Dole and the middle of the road Republicans ever dreamed of. It has been said that NEO-conservatives hate Social Security, thinking that it is a socialist agenda to move the country toward communisim. This move is to show that we are still a democracy. Hmmmmph! Seems to me that a lot of people are gonna get shafted, unless you make enough $$$$$$$$$$ to weather out the next 4 years... [/]

[Dr. Shane]

Bush is a big-government sort of guy. That has been one of my biggest critisms of him. Bush is not a Gingrich Republican for sure. That is why many conservatives consider Bush to be a moderate.

I am by no means a Gingrich Republican either. Actually, I am closer to a conservative, southern, pro-life Democrat. That of course makes me a conservative-leaning moderate.