Should America return to big government?

IT MAY sound now like an echo of a pre-historic era in Washington. But there was a time not long ago when Republican lawmakers, adhering to their free market principles, were intent on sabotaging any attempt by the federal government to manage the American economy and when the idea of fiscal stimuli would have been regarded as a violation of the GOP's most sacred economic doctrine. In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Republican leaders had agreed with then Republican president George W Bush that the only way to save the American economy would be by employing tax-paid money to bail out some of the nation's major financial institutions.

But then that move was eventually criticised by Republican activists and conservative thinkers who argued that the government should not be in the business of injecting money into the private sector.

Those sentiments, in turn, gave rise to the Tea Party Movement that rallied in support of lowering taxes and against any form of government intervention in the economy - an agenda that was embraced by the Republicans on Capitol Hill during the presidency of Barack Obama. They consistently sabotaged any attempt by the Democratic administration to introduce plans for fiscal stimulus, while rejecting the loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. The Republicans contended that the most effective way to pursue economic growth was through the supply side of the economy, by cutting taxes and getting rid of government regulations.