Rarely in history has a great thing happened without the compromise of competing ideologies. Terrible things, on the other hand, happen far more often when there is just one voice in the room. In that regard, the Republicans have stepped out for a cigarette.

While the public stares at CNBC like deer-in-headlights, President Obama is poised to expand the government to a role larger than any it has played since it defeated Hitler. To do it, he will borrow trillions of dollars from the next generation of tax-payers. With his new budget, Obama promises unprecedented investment in our national livelihood. 

Americans have debated the size of government since the founding of the country. Both sides of the debate could be destructive if given too much power, yet both sides require consideration. Certainly, compromise is the theme-song to our history. In the last 100 years, big-government has taken much ground. Even Reagan and Bush combined couldn’t backtrack from inroads the New Deal and the Great Society had planted. For all of his rhetoric about compromise, Obama using his political capital to give Demorats exactly what they want: more spending. 

But no one is ready to seriously bargain with him. From the Republicans, we’ve been lucky to hear a chirp. Alas! The Grand Old Party isn’t looking quite so Grand, although rather old. Whoever the de-facto leader may be—Michel Steele and Rush Limbaugh are scheduled to duke it out  on pay-per-view—certainly isn’t doing much of anything. 

In all seriousness, the debate over the size of government means too much to too many people for the Republicans to be leader-less. It’s time to revisist the New Deal, reconsider the Great Society and reevaluate the subsequent push-backs. It’s time again to wonder about the proper role of government.

Of course we are all scared. We all want immediate action. But while Obama is setting a precedent that will remarkably impact the lives of every American, the loyal opposition is out of ideas. For better or worse, in this generation-defining debate, the Republicans are letting us down.

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