The Case Against Despair by Fred Barnes

The safest of all assumptions in Washington is that year after year federal spending will rise. Over the past 25 years, spending increased 84 percent in real, inflation-adjusted terms as the population of the United States rose 30 percent. Spending per capita grew 41 percent. And though President Bush is now trying to curb spending, the federal budget crossed the $2 trillion mark and is likely to exceed $3 trillion during his presidency. That's nothing to brag about.

The relentless rise in spending, unstopped even when Republicans controlled the White House and Congress, has thrown conservatives committed to limited government into despair. Their view, fashionable at the moment, is that nothing can be done to limit spending to any significant degree. It's hopeless. Even conservative voters "aren't that concerned about spending," Ramesh Ponnuru lamented in National Review.

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