The Pendragon's Hall

This week witnesses two rather grand events: the 230th birthday of the United States and the 60th birthday of it's current president on Thursday. The Pendragon wishes Mr. Bush great happiness and a long, fulfilled life. Something that is intriguing me, however, is the beginning of the bearing out of one of the Pendragon's own predictions. It took a hundred years but Theodore Roosevelt is now being compared favorably to Bush on the basis that he used big government to achieve Jeffersonian (limited government) ends. The critics have obviously not read Fred Barnes' book Rebel in Chief. I share the admiration for Theodore Roosevelt: he was one of our greatest presidents but for years after he was done, he was considered a tyrant who abused the power of the presidency for his own ends. Only recently did they realize Roosevelt achieved many limited government ends through his use of the power of the national government. Bush is no different. Conservatives may carp about the fact that he is not trimming the size and influence of the US government; liberals may complain that he is pro-life, anti-terror and pushing through tax cuts, but Barnes is right. Essentially what Bush has done is accept the fact that big government isn't going anywhere and decided to harness the power to achieve what are ultimately conservative ends: lower taxes, individual responsibility, national defense (all something TR would have been very interested in). I only hope it won't take presidential historians 100 years to feature Bush on the cover of TIME magazine. For one thing, I want to be around to see it.