Fact-Checking TNR

I posted Leon Wieseltier’s defense of liberalism earlier because it was elegantly written and because I think his logic is now irrefutable. We are entering a liberal era and I suspect it will get more ambitious as the economic crisis deepens. But in one respect, Leon was unfair to conservatism. Money quote:

Ronald Reagan, when he proclaimed categorically, without exception or complication, that "government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem," was a fool.

But, of course, the most famous invocation of this formula – in the 1981 Inaugural – specifically did have an exception and complication. In fact, it had more than a complication, it had a context:

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

Some conservatives have indeed forgotten that essential caveat, which rescues conservatism from a dogma into a temperament – and made it particularly effective against the deadly liberal buildup of the 1970s. But not all conservatives. And not Reagan:

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work–work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.