For a tried and true “conservative,” Governor McDonnell’s
recent call for Virginia’s college presidents to keep tuition rates stable
sounds a lot like that dreaded word, “socialism.”
In a letter released on Monday, McDonnell commented that
“During the last decade, Virginia students experienced on average, double-digit
tuition increases annually.”[1]
He went on to state that “This trend is unacceptable and cannot continue.”
Indeed, as one of the students who felt the financial pinch
of a world economy gone sour and the subsequent tuition hikes which followed, I
give three cheers to Gov. McDonnell for urging Virginia’s colleges to keep
their degrees affordable for the middle and working class Virginian.
But imagine if Tim Kaine were to make the same request of
college presidents. Many on the political right would be up in arms over such a
heavy-handed “socialist” request. Somehow, though, conservatives escape these
charges when they go about advocating the same policies.
Take President Obama’s idea for the individual mandate. What
was originally a conservative idea touted by some leaders within the Republican
Party suddenly became political hemlock once it was picked up by President
Obama.[2]
The quality of the idea has not however changed.
While Gov. McDonnell should be praised for stepping in to
hold back the relentless tide of tuition hikes, liberals and the Democratic
Party need to be more willing to call out conservatives who support views and
policies that run counter to their conservative orthodoxy.
Political games at the expense of America’s welfare have to
stop. Maybe some of these can be stopped once it’s made abundantly clear that,
counter to conservative belief, sometimes it is necessary for government to
persuade or even step into the economic arena momentarily to “fix”
unsustainable problems.
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