Are you a true conservative?
Posted : September 21, 2004 at 4:10 pm [America/Los_Angeles]
If they were true to their principles, moderate Republicans and consistent conservatives would be supporting John Kerry. Instead, their acquiescence to the reckless whims of George W. Bush marks a descent into that political abyss of opportunism where partisanship is everything and principle nothing.
How else to explain their cynical support for this shallow adventurer, a phony lightweight who has bled the Treasury dry while incompetently squandering the lives of young Americans in a needless imperial campaign? If Al Gore had been knighted president by the Supreme Court and overseen this mess instead of Dubya, the rational remnant of the Republican Party would be rightly calling for his head.
Instead, a century’s worth of conservative ideals are tossed out the window for political expediency. Soaring budget deficits suddenly don’t matter, and not a tear is shed for the wasted surplus accumulated during Bill Clinton’s tenure. Despite two huge tax cuts for the super-rich, Bush turns out to be a big believer in that old GOP boogeyman, Big Government. An equal-opportunity spendthrift, he throws billions into the sinkhole of Iraq as easily as he doles out corporate handouts.
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Well said.
- Anand
Category: United (or not) State of American Politics 2004
2 Comments
“Despite two huge tax cuts for the super-rich”.
– They do pay for most of the taxes in the nation, don’t they?
Posted by: Anonymous at September 21, 2004 @ 8:43 pm
Well, they are super-rich after all..;-)
I mean, there is a difference between someone paying 1% of $100 and 1% of $100,000 in pure dollar terms. So yes, if you go by dollar terms, the guy earning $100 pays less taxes. But does he/she really pay less taxes? No. Because, from a % of salary standpoint, both are sharing the same tax burden!
But it’s really not just tax-cuts for the wealthy which makes President Bush any less or more Conservative. You have to look at the whole picture and put things in the proper context before passing any judgement.
9-11 had shaken the country. We were in the middle of “Operation Enduring Freedom” against Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. “Operation Iraqi Freedom” was just around the corner. We had already launched a world-wide “War on Terror” and the President of the United States had just finished giving the first round of tax-cuts to the super rich in the hope of getting this Economy going.
Now, at this juncture, President Bush had two choices - announce that he was drastically rolling back big-budget Federal programmes or that he would be postponing the tax cuts owing to the whole “war” situation. I don’t think anyone in this country would have disagreed, even if they probably would not have liked it.
Unfortunately, he chose to offend nobody and did neither. Result: an insanely high (> $400 billion dollar) budget deficit!! Not that anybody should be surprised.
That’s probably why you hear folks like Pat Buchanan say “There is no Conservative party in Washington anymore.”
- Anand
p.s.
There has been not a single President in the history of United States (indeed probably the world) that has cut taxes when their country was at war.
Posted by: Anand Sharma at September 21, 2004 @ 10:34 pm