Posted on 07/06/2009 6:59:32 PM PDT by RED SOUTH
(Washington, D.C., July 6, 2009) -- As I traveled throughout the U.S. on my recent book tour, I kept running into people who would ask me, "Where is Steve Forbes? The economy is melting down. We need his economic expertise right now."
I couldn't agree more. Steve's message in the 1990s of free market ways to create hope, growth and opportunity at home and abroad may have seemed too bold to the GOP establishment at the time. But it's desperately needed today. His plan to scrap the corrupting federal tax code - "We need to take the tax code and kill it, drive a stake through it's heart, bury it, and hope it never rises again to terrorize the American people" - and replace it with a simple flat tax that's a real tax cut for American families and businesses is the right prescription for the the mess we're now in.
Steve was passionate about eliminating wasteful government spending, and eliminating pork barrel earmarks and ridiculous corporate welfare schemes. He had serious plans to advance market-based health care reforms where individuals and families get to choose their doctors, and market-based education reforms so that parents could choose the right schools for their children. In foreign policy, Steve was a strong proponent of missile defenses, and recognized the threat Russia and Iran were becoming before many others in Washington did.
The problem is that few in Washington today seem to believe in such bold, dynamic reforms, or have the courage to advance them. I certainly don't hear any of the potential 2012 presidential candidates proposing such sweeping reforms to counter the President's plan to rack up another $10 trillion in debt and socialize much of the American economy, notably the health care sector.
As troubling, few are demonstrating Steve's understanding of global trends and threats or insisting on missile defenses or a tougher stance towards Russia and Iran. Indeed, the biggest news the GOP makes these days are by politicians who have marital affairs and should resign but don't, and successful governors who shouldn't resign but do. What's wrong with these people and this party?
Finally off the road from my book tour, I finally called Steve last week to catch up. The good news: he hasn't disappeared. To the contrary, he's spent the last few months working on a fabulous new book, Power, Ambition and Glory: The Stunning Parallels Between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn.
Last month, Steve embarked on a national media tour. He's talking about the lessons we can learn from history's most effective and provocative leaders and how we can apply those lessons to the challenges we face today. This week, the book hit the New York Times hardcover non-fiction best-seller list at #30. I hope it climbs much higher.
Where is Steve?
He still writes his comments on two full pages of Forbes every two weeks.
He and Rupert Murdoch have formed an alliance and Steve appears every Saturday on Fox on Forbes. He also appears on the Fox Business network.
He is a regular on several Fox news presentations including Fox and Friends and especially Niel Cavuto.
The truth is that he is more visible now than when he was running for president.
Yeah, I’ve been called some things too. By people who should know better.
That he was or is a pro-life conservative. His endorsement of Giuliani verifies what I knew a very long time ago. He was lying.
I'll have to agree to disagree with a fellow Freeper here.
TARP I set the precedent for just about every damaging thing Obama has rammed through. Supporting it cost McCain the election, too.
Of course we are but without a viable economy the rest disappears. We are about to learn that the hard way!
You know, Tom, I am getting sick and tired of all these people who think that unless you agree with them 100% you're not pro-life, you're not a good Christian, you're a RINO, whatever. I'm getting sick of it.
I have lost a lot of respect for Republicans in recent years because of their holier-than-thou attitudes.
This ain't church. The political parties have nothing to do with people's eternal salvation.
Iowa politics has been high jacked with this mindset.
I think that one of Ronald Reagan's biggest mistakes, was choosing George H. W. Bush to be his running mate. I really doubt that had Bush not been Reagan's V.P., he would have ever been elected POTUS in 1988.
I’ll ignore the straw men and simply point out that Giuliani is an admirer of Margaret Sanger. So much so that he used his mayoral office to honor her publicly.
I’m sorry you can’t, for some reason, see any connection between the true beliefs of folks and who they endorse for public office.
But, the practical reality is that personnel IS policy.
Any office, doesn’t matter what it is, is only as good or bad as the individual holding it.
This country will not be rescued unless conservatives stop compromising and supporting liberals. Including, and perhaps especially, those who are actually liberals in conservative clothing.
Yeah, I think you’re right. My personal choice would’ve been NV Sen. (and former Governor) Paul Laxalt, a solid Conservative who was friends with Reagan. Reagan didn’t choose him because he didn’t think the country would accept two Westerners on the ticket. Clinton, of course, broke that “region balancing” precedent by picking Gore from the neighboring state.
Had he not gone with Bush, he might’ve gone with Howard Baker, the Senate GOP leader, or perhaps then-DE Gov. Pete du Pont. But we all should be grateful he didn’t go with the early first choice, former President Gerald Ford.
That's as may be. I personally think that the Saudi, Iranian, and Palestinian mullahs are a much bigger threat to America than Margaret Sanger. And I vote based on my priorities.
Better not say anything in a less than worshipful tone about Her Sarahness. At least, not this week.
There are constant realignments.
Guiliani was way off base about a lot of things but he was very strong on some other issues.
They're certainly a threat. But I don't think they've managed to kill off fifty million American babies.
You might want to rethink your priorities.
Yeah. He was a very efficient gay-loving, abortion-supporting socialist. Kinda like Mussolini made the trains run on time. And, you know, Hitler did build those wonderful autobahns.
Amen.
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