Fat-Free Government

Ever since Ronald Reagan took office, there's been one thing you could count on from Republicans: A commitment to reducing the size and scope of the federal government. That philosophy took a pretty big hit with the election of compassionate conservative George W. Bush. 9/11 took another chuck out of its hide. Now Katrina may have finally finished it off. Latest sign of this particular apocalypse? Tom DeLay's declaration yesterday that when it comes to the size of the federal bureaucracy, "we've pared it down pretty good," and there's simply no fat left to cut.

We're all big government lovers now, folks. Oh yeah--and haters, too. That's our privilege as Americans, right?