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An argument rages on this editorial page over whether Democratic Congressman Ron Kind is a "big-government liberal" and whether the description qualifies as "name-calling."

Is this a fight area Republicans really want to pick?

Maybe Kind is a big-government liberal, but there's also a political species called the big-government conservative. Its symbol, sitting in an undisclosed location somewhere in La Crosse, is the $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle. It's the newest addition to the La Crosse's County Sheriff's Department.

What is the $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle? According to Autoweek, "it's the most popular new urban rescue/assault vehicle among first responders and military units from the LADP to the U.S. Air Force. It has bulletproof windows, blast fragmentation resistant floors, gunports and roof hatches with rotating turrets."

Who paid for the $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle? The Department of Homeland Security, the most unconservative creation of my lifetime.

DHS was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. A traditional conservative would have sought to make existing institutions work better rather than create a new cabinet post with a new layer of bureaucracy.

Not President Bush. Even as Bush's supporters had the gall to ridicule anyone who described terrorism as a law enforcement issue, the President created a new $32 billion per year law enforcement enforcement agency. One of its tasks is to distribute money and equipment to local law enforcement agencies to fight the war on terror.

Sending La Crosse County the $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle raises serious questions about the stewardship of that money. Does La Crosse County really need this? The $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle does some neat things, but it's inconceivable La Crosse County would have paid for this beast on its own dime. Incidentally, this isn't a total freebie for La Crosse taxpayers; it costs a lot more to maintain a $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle than a Crown Victoria.

La Crosse isn't the only city chomping on DHS pork. North Pole, Alaska (population: 1,600), received a $500,000 for communication equipment. Boulder County, Colo., got $24,000 for two high-speed rubber motorboats. This stuff isn't hard to find. Just type "homeland security pork" into any search engine and find all the examples you want.

Big-government conservatism isn't just limited to DHS. The July issue of Harper's Magazine reported how Congress has streamlined the process by which members of Congress insert spending items into appropriation bills. The article obliterated the fiction that Republicans are only as corrupt as Democrats who ran Congress until 1995. In 1980, for example, Congress inserted just 62 defense department "earmarks" Last year, it was 2,671. The number of earmarks tripled from $10.6 billion in 1998 to $32.7 in 2004. Harper's calls it "The Great American Pork Barrel -- Washington streamlines the means of corruption," and it's not happening with on the Democrats' watch.

Still don't believe big-government conservatism exists? Compare spending patterns of the Clinton and Bush years. Under Clinton, federal spending went up 13.3 percent over eight years. Bush needed just four years to jack up spending by 19.7 percent. The difference isn't defense spending. Clinton raised non-defense discretionary spending by 15.1 percent in eight years. Under four years of Bush, it's up 25.3 percent.

There are two types of big government. There's big-government liberalism, in which the government administers broad-based entitlements (Social Security, Medicaid) and provides services collectively that individuals can't purchase on their own (police protection, roads, public parks, etc.). Has this vision suffered from excess and waste? Of course. But it has raised the standard of living for most Americans. The elderly can't buy affordable health insurance on the private market, and most individuals can't purchase their own personal police or fire protection. At the very least, big-government liberalism's heart is in the right place.

There's nothing good about big-government conservatism. It's an iron triangle of politicians, lobbyists and industry wallowing in the spoils of government contracting and favoritism linked to campaign contributions. The recipient of big-government liberalism is likely to be a 90-year-old who can't get out of bed, or a pregnant teen in need of pre-natal care. The recipient of big-government conservatism is a Halliburton executive or someone who lobbies on Halliburton's behalf. The owners of Lenco Industries certainly did well when the $180,000 Lenco BearCat assault vehicle landed in La Crosse.

Big-government liberals vs. big-government conservatives? Score this one for Ron Kind.

Steve Rundio is the editorial page editor for Tomah Newspapers.