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Comment by bdhe | Hacker News Reader

I'm trying to "steel man" the points of view of someone who is a big Kennedy supporter and also a small government conservative. Is there any coherent world view where something like this is NOT condemned as excessive government interference? Can anyone help me here or is the only way to understand these events and their ardent supporters is through the lens of authoritarianism?

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There is a difference between definitions of "small government". To some it means limited interference, to others it could just mean small in size - ie powerful laws free of bureaucrats or subtlety or oversight.

These views are usually opposed, but people who are not philosophically grounded might flit between them without realizing.

Ah, you mean some people actually want small as in "L'état, c'est moi!" - the smallest government there is?

Well, I can think of at least one person, unfortunately.

> There is a difference between definitions of "small government"

The traditional Republican definition of "small government" has been something like Norquist's: "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

Until Trump, I don't think there had been any Republican support for the "few people with a lot of authority and no oversight" definition. Now it seems pretty widespread, though.

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