Marco Rubio says that when he was nine years old, something
happened in America
that left a lasting impression on him. I know what he means because when I was
at that same age – say, 28 years earlier or thereabout – things were happening
in the world that left a lasting impression on me, even if I did not understand
what was happening at the time.
Rubio tells his story in an article he wrote under the
title: “A Speech for All Time” and the subtitle: “Republicans must apply the
principles of Reagan's 'Time for Choosing' to today's challenges.” The article
was published on October 27, 2014 in National Review Online. What Rubio
remembers was watching on television the speech that Ronald Reagan gave as he
accepted the Republican nomination to run for President of the United States .
It was followed by his grandfather telling him about his future in America as he
grows up in a free country.
Eventually, Rubio learned that the acceptance speech was but
a reflection of another speech that Reagan had given 16 years before that. And
what impressed him most in the earlier speech – when he later read it – is that
“Reagan warned of the dangers of a growing government and a shrinking private
economy.” And so, Rubio grew up believing in this principle as firmly as if it
had been written into his DNA for ever.
By contrast, I do not remember a speech that was given
twelve years earlier than that when I was nine years old. But I remember the
Korean War and the French involvement in Vietnam . I remember the deep
sadness I saw expressed on the faces of the adults as they listened to the news
on the radio. In the absence of a television screen to look at, their faces
were the images that etched into my DNA for ever. The medium is indeed the
message.
It was many years later that I learned about a Republican
President in America
named Dwight Eisenhower who was warning at about that time of the consequences
in letting the Military Industrial Complex get too big. Even though he had come
from the army, he feared that a big military would ruin the economy that
sustains it, thus turn the whole enterprise into a self-defeating exercise. I
instantly took to his idea.
From that time to this day, the Republican Party has been
navigating between the two issues of big government and a big military. Sadly,
however, some of its members have ignored the Eisenhower warning, and have
promised that a big military and a strong economy can be had simultaneously.
They point to what happened during the Reagan years when, after the downturn of
the Carter years, the economy picked up at the same time that Reagan was
beefing up the military.
There is some truth to that, but despite the apparent
cause-and-effect relationship, growth in the economy happened only during the
first half of the Reagan presidency. Then, like any normal economy, the Reagan
curve began to turn downward, reaching bottom during the presidency of George
Bush 41 who lost his re-election as a result. After that, the economy followed
the normal curve yet again, and started to grow during the Clinton Presidency.
If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that the economic cycle is alive
and well, and nothing can be done to repeal it.
What is refreshing about the Marco Rubio article is that he
does not make false promises. He is adamant about the danger of big government
(which is a conservative idea) as he talks about the necessity of reviving the
conservative principles. This is to be expected. But he adds that “today, we
need modern reforms that recognize modern realities: that our country now faces
global competition for jobs.”
Rubio has not elaborated on that, but he would do well to do
it before the others begin to muddy the water and force everyone to make
promises that cannot be kept. He can anchor himself solidly in the Eisenhower
principle which says that a big military will kill the economy that feeds it.
There is a conservative logic in that. It is that the
military is the biggest institution in government. And if, like Reagan says,
big government ruins the economy, then big military must also ruin the economy.