Conservatives took it to heart when Ronald Reagan said, in his first inaugural address, that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Since that time, antigovernment conservatives have gleefully elected and appointed public servants who don’t believe in public service. Therein lies the great conservative dilemma. What happens when you need public servants and you don’t have any? The answer: Hundreds of thousands die unnecessarily in a pandemic. People freeze in Texas.
Now-former Colorado City, Texas, mayor Tim Boyd’s declaration to his constituents that government “owes you nothing” can trace its ancestry straight back to Reagan’s famous pronouncement on the worthlessness of government. Boyd is not an anomaly. His is just the most honest expression of antigovernment conservatism and the dilemma it poses to those who choose to believe in it.
Julia Glendon
Lunenburg