Liberal friends of mine often complain that Bill Clinton was the best Republican president ever. They hate the fact he eliminated welfare for the most part and allowed Newt Gingrich to pass 80% of the Contract With America.

It turns out George W. Bush was the best Democrat president ever. He expanded social spending and the role of government.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is an example of why we should not have a Department of Education. It is an issue best left to the states because one size clearly does not fit all. It is government intervention at its worst judging educators for the actions of people they have almost no ability to change.

Medicare part D was another huge government program destined to flush money down the drain. It was nothing more than a populist idea to pander to the masses.

Immigration policy was another place where Bush just does not seem to get it. Bush never seemed to get how much money we spend on services for illegal immigrants in this country.

You can throw out all the money thrown at Iraq and Bush still increased spending well beyond where it should have been. All the Republicans in Congress decided they were Democrats and joined in passing all of these monstrosities.

It turns out Bush did similar things in Texas. When California was fighting over prop 187, the San Antonio Express-News was praising Bush for not being Pete Wilson. Texas also had a program similar to NCLB.

His actions as president were predictable. It has been a couple of frustrating decades as a fiscal conservative and social liberal.

But compared to Dubya, Obama is on spending steroids.

He has pushed through a pork laden stimulus bill that is nothing more than bloated government growth. It has improved the job picture in the DC area with government and related jobs but other private sector jobs continue to bleed.

He gave us Cash for Clunkers which is nothing more than a quick shot of heroin. Now, the automakers are in the hangover phase. The long term effect may be non-existent.

After taxes, housing is the biggest expense for most households and yet the feds are actively involved in programs keeping prices artificially high. It is outrageous but it goes back to the misguided idea that everybody should be allowed to own a house. That kind of green lining nonsense was what cause the problem in the first place.

Some things like Cap and Trade are stalled at present.

The health care crown jewel is the yet to be passed.

The Obama line has been that we need to get health care costs under control.

What exactly are the Democrats offering that is going to make a difference in cost?

Insuring the uninsured? Hardly, if you cover people that are not covered right now it will cost money. People can talk about access and prevention all they want but evidence that preventative care saves any money is lacking. In fact, the medical literature talks about how preventive services cost more money.

Covering pre-existing conditions? The insurance companies are buzzards but they realize it costs money to cover illness. There are no savings to be had in covering pre-existing conditions.

Cutting money out of Medicare to pay for it? Hospitals across the country are spurting red ink because of poor Medicare reimbursement. If the Sustained Growth Rate is ever allowed to go into effect it would be double digit decreases in physician reimbursement. Would you go to work tomorrow if someone cut your wage 20%? Forget the birthers, it makes one wonder if Obama was born on Mars.

Negotiating drug costs? Forget that, Obama already sold out on that one.

When places like Tennessee and Massachusetts ventured into trying to cover more of the uninsured it quickly became an expensive proposition. Both states have learned that costs can quickly rise beyond the predictions.

This is why the conservatives in this country are trying to offer ideas that will actually change the market. Ideas that try to make the laws of economics work in the health care industry. That includes allowing competition across state lines, eliminating mandates, tort reform, and use of HSA/HDHPs among other things.

It is comical to hear complaints about how tort reform will not make a difference in costs when all they want to do is spend more money. Everything they are proposing will add costs.

Watching the news the other night as people got up asking for the state to cover more children under Denali Kid Care was a striking experience. This country seems dedicated to the pursuit of what the government can do for them.

It has crossed party lines. Palin played the game in Alaska with populist attacks on the oil industry and $1200 bribes. Now, investment is down and the gas line window is closing if not closed already.

Both Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich were sure to point out what bacon they had brought home at their town hall meetings. It has been a badge of honor for Alaskan politicians in DC for years.

Nobody seems to want to make the right decisions, only the popular ones.

The nation needs to quit looking at Washington to provide us fish all the time. The impending financial failure of big programs like Medicare and Social Security show us the fish will run out.

Washington should not even provide the tools to fish or even instructions on how to fish. We need to get back to building the tools, educating, and fishing ourselves. And if we do not fish well, we should be allowed to go a little hungry.

Hunger can be a great motivator. The only thing DC should do is make the environment better to fish.

Our private sector needs to go a little hungry. Some hunger now is better than us all starving to death in the future.