An article in The Weekly Standard on Feb. 8 piqued my interest. It was titled: “Can Republicans Govern? Not unless they change The Narrative.” Author Jeff Bergner has served as staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, assistant secretary of state and professor of government.

He posits the idea that liberals see themselves as progressives who are constantly striving to achieve the ideals of equality envisioned by our nation’s founders. Every step to move people from poverty, provide for retirement, lessen hunger, protect the environment, meet medical needs or “spread the wealth around” are viewed as positive steps toward this ideal. Thus “The Narrative” embraced by liberals puts them on the side of angels.

On the other hand, conservatives are considered to be hard-hearted reactionaries guided by greed, promoting special interests and working to halt or turn back the progress achieved by the liberal elite – an elite convinced that it knows what’s best for our nation and its citizens. And it should be noted that they don’t look kindly on those who question the validity of The Narrative.

Certainly, as Bergner points out, Ronald Reagan was vilified and ridiculed by the left. His intelligence and ideas were often called into question. Many called him a cowboy to suggest that he acted on impulse with little thought of the consequences.

Actually, he turned out to be the white-hatted cowboy who rode into a western town to save its citizens from a band of desperadoes. In this case, he is credited with saving the U.S. from the threat of communism as promulgated by the U.S.S.R.

On the home front, he turned back The Narrative clock by lowering taxes and encouraging free enterprise. This ushered in perhaps the greatest economic boom in American history.

The Narrative reemerged during George H. W. Bush’s administration and took on a new life during the first four years of the Bill Clinton Administration. Thanks to “The Contract with America” and a Republican House and Senate, spending was reduced. Welfare reform was adopted which greatly reduced the cost of this social program, encouraged the work ethic and reignited dignity among the poor. These efforts also eliminated budget deficits for a couple of years.

It would be easy to excuse George W. Bush’s spending excesses by attributing them to the cost of our Global War on Terror after 9/11. However, Republican senators and representatives loaded the budget with pork and we once again experienced a large rise in deficit spending.

I was disappointed that Bush failed to veto initial spending bills, demand that Congress show more overall restraint and delete all earmarks. He did make an attempt to address looming Social Security shortfalls through partial privatization, but Democrats and fellow Republicans refused to take up the issue. Timid Republicans lent support to The Narrative by failing to act.

Contrary to Harry Reid’s charge that lack of Republican support for Obamacare was tantamount to supporting slavery, I believe that Republicans have finally seen the light.

Big government is not the answer. In fact, ever-bigger government takes away our freedom and leads to serfdom. Those who take rely on government and the 50 percent who still pay taxes see their hard earned money going to those who don’t. Carried to the extreme, eventually no one will see any value in working and the economy will collapse.

From another angle, are liberals more compassionate? Apparently not. In an article by Arthur C. Brook in The American on March 31, 2008, he found that conservative households are more likely to give and give more. In fact, they gave 30 percent more than liberals in 2000. This in spite of the fact that liberal households earned 6 percent more. The conclusion: The Narrative only holds true with other people’s money.