Base and Superstructure

Sebastian Mallaby observes of conservative/libertarian splits that "It's not just the values of the South that pose a problem. It is the region's appetite for government." In particular, "The most solidly red states in the nation tend also to be the most reliant on federal handouts -- farm subsidies, water projects and sundry other earmarks. It's hard to be the party of small government when you represent the communities that benefit most from big government."

Based on this analysis, Mallaby proposes a kind of Democrat/libertarian combined arms action to "cut senseless spending such as the farm program and oil subsidies to make room for the inevitable expansion in areas such as health." I'd be all for that, though I seriously doubt it would garner tons of libertarian support from Democrats since it seems to me that those libertarians interested in economic issues care more about Social Security and Medicare than they do about farm subsidies (and why not? the retirement entitlements are much bigger) and regard people who support raising the minimum wage as worse than Lysenko and only slightly better than Mengele.

That said, if you're looking for government spending that the GOP will never touch because it goes to "red" regions and to corporations that back Republicans, you should be looking at the Defense Department's budget which, obviously, dwarfs the Department of Agriculture in size.