Is Hillary Clinton a 'statist'?
"厂迟补迟颈蝉迟.鈥�听An epithet for a supposed big-government liberal that is common in libertarian and conservative circles.
The term to describe an advocate of statism has been around for years but has 听in recent decades, according to Google鈥檚 Ngram Viewer. One explanation is the enduring fondness among limited-government adherents for philosopher and author Ayn Rand, whom her associate Harry Binswanger 听as having 鈥渢irelessly promoted鈥� the word鈥檚 use. She viewed statism as the notion that 鈥渕an鈥檚 life and work belong to the state 鈥� to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation 鈥� and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own, tribal, collective good.鈥�
Opponents of Hillary Clinton have used seemingly every word in the book to criticize her, and 鈥渟tatist鈥� appears to be gaining in popularity. Prominent anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist 听this week to Vox.com: 鈥淗illary is a statist. There isn't any place, including the Iraq War, that she doesn't want more government.鈥� Last month, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum 听that he鈥檚 well suited to begin 鈥渃ountering a big, top-down, statist approach that Hillary Clinton has advocated.鈥�
Now that Vermont senator and self-described 鈥渋ndependent socialist鈥� Bernie Sanders is running, we鈥檙e almost certain to hear 鈥渟tatist鈥� come up and .听
But Mrs. Clinton and Senator Sanders aren鈥檛 the only 2016 hopefuls to receive the designation. Conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg 听that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) 鈥渉as a view of the state that would have jibed almost perfectly with such forgotten titans of the Progressive Era as Richard Ely, Josephus Daniels and even William Jennings Bryan.鈥� He noted Mr. Huckabee uses religion to defend government activism by advocating that, among other things, Americans have a Biblical obligation to combat global warming. As a result, Goldberg said, Mr. Huckabee is 鈥渁n anachronism ... not for his statist meliorism, but for his openly religious motivations.鈥�
And former Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas, the icon of the tea party movement, 听both Mrs. Clinton and ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush last year as 鈥渟tatist political has-beens.鈥� Not surprisingly, according to the Sunlight Foundation鈥檚 invaluable CapitolWords.org, when Mr. Paul was in the House, he said 鈥渟tatist鈥� more often during congressional floor debates than anyone else 鈥� .听
Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark write their "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Politics Voices.
