A zombie is a mindless creature, controlled by sinister forces outside its body, which subsists by devouring everything in sight. Frankly, that sounds a lot more like Shrum’s stimulus-hungry Democratic majority than like the Republican opposition.

The Democrats’ stimulus is packaged as an emergency jolt to the economy. But its single biggest element, worth more than $300 billion, is a huge money transfer to the states. For all the talk of “shovel ready” infrastructure projects, many states will simply use this money to sustain current spending—over-generous local Medicaid programs above all. For example, the State of Michigan has explicitly asked that extra money be directed to high unemployment states. (Michigan currently ranks highest on this grim measure, followed by Rhode Island and California.) With an influx of cash from Washington, these states would be free to use federal funds to underwrite a range of pre-existing social welfare programs.

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David Frum is editor of FrumForum.com and the author of six books, including most recently COMEBACK: Conservatism That Can Win Again. In 2001 and 2002, he served as speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush. In 2007, he served as senior foreign policy adviser to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign.