George Bush's Big Government Adventure

Free Republic and Various ^ | 01-30-02 | aaabest

[AAABEST]

With Conservative Like This, Who Needs Liberals?

Let me start off by addressing those who have been bashing(and I do mean bash) me and other well intentioned and well known Freepers as being anti-Bush, Libertarians, from the reform party or whatever. 

I voted for GWB, and I can ping several freepers to this thread that met me in real life at several Bush rallies (with megaphone in hand). I was a member of the Broward County Young Republicans before moving to the West coast of Florida and I was active in Jeb Bush's campaign for Governor. 

I've been on this forum for almost 4 years and anyone that knows me is aware of my conservative views and knows that I'm not a member of the reform party, I'm not a Libertarian (large "l") or any of the other things I and others like me have been accused of.

If you have been engaging in inflammatory rhetoric, bashing long-time, well known Freepers or acting like children because not all of us are enthralled with "Georges Big Government Adventure",  please try to control yourselves, at least while posting on this thread. 

It's not my purpose (at least at this point) to get GWB un-elected, I like him, he has a beautiful wife, he's a good Commander in Chief and he seems like an honest politician. However,  if he keeps ignoring conservative principles and promoting a larger more intrusive government, I and others can no longer continue to support him....on principle. 

We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America.

Above is the Free Republic mission statement.  After his first year, would anyone say that GWB has worked towards this end? I think many conservatives suffer from some kind of Stockholm Syndrome as a result of 8 years of President Clinton, because when I ask many of them what GWB has done for conservatism lately, all I get is that he's not Clinton. 

I know he's not a corrupt, law breaking scoundrel, but is that all that's required? Can our republic survive a cycle where Republicans get into office grow government greatly, interspersed with Democrats who grow government even more greatly with little or no reduction? There are actually people on FR that think all of this growth in government spending is some grandiose 8 year plan by Mr. Bush to fool Democrats so that he can cut government later. What an absurd notion.

If any of the initiatives below originated from the Clinton administration, people on FR would have had a cow. Those "Day in the Life of President Bush" threads garner hundreds of fawning responses, while a thread on how our government is growing out of control will die after 10.

I appeal to anyone reading this to consider the below information without bias. The links will open in a separate window for you convenience.  I will be adding to this information as necessary God bless America, God bless this forum and God bless you.

Click on the Picture of the President (thinking of new ways grow government) for the corresponding article.

	Huge education spending bill (i.e. Federal Local School Board Bribery Act) which liberal Democrats love that doesn't mention a word about choice or local control.
	Food stamps for immigrants.
	Largest spending bill in American History. The first to exceed 2 trillion dollars.
	The Airport Security Bill that completely takes control of over 28,000 screening jobs. Now it seems that they don't even have to be high school graduates either. The big difference, they can't be fired.
	100 million for welfare moms.
	Hugely Expanding Clinton's Amercorps boondoggle that all conservatives railed against.
	Kowtowing to law breaking illegal immigrants by proposing amnesty. Speaking of illegal immigrants who sneak across the border; "And we've got to respect that, seems like to me, and treat those people with respect," he added. "I remind people all across our country: Family values do not stop at the border."
.	38 Billion for a new Homeland Security bureaucracy that allots a 20% increase for border control. Guess what. It goes to our problematic Canadian border, with not a dollar spent on the Mexican border. Read it for yourself
	The  Orwellian "Patriot Act" that gives Federal authorities carte blanche to rifle through all of your digital communications and essentially,  rob your house without notice.
	71.5 billion over 10 years for government health care.
	Not releasing appropriate documents on Clinton and FBI corruption.

 

[A.J.Armitage]

Do you actually think of that as a refutation?

[FreeReign]

Conservatives are too free-market for politics. The marketplace rewards or punishes you VERY quickly compared to politics--and too many of us want everything fixed RIGHT NOW! We tried it in 1995--and got our backsides handed to us.

Yes Poohbah, that is why our problems will only be fixed incrementally and subtly.

Does Bush's first budget -- 2002 -- reduce discretionary spending incrementally? What can Bush do about nondiscretionary spending? Anybody? All this criticism yet no answers.

[Dane]

Do you actually think of that as a refutation?

Do you(A.J.Armitrage) actually think your above italicized passage as a refutation?

[TLBSHOW]

Hoping to tap into a rise volunteering spurred by the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush is seeking $560 million next year and higher status for old and new programs to prompt Americans to serve their communities.

If Congress agrees,

the money would expand a trio of programs which for years have placed volunteers by the sides of the poor, the elderly and the very young around the world: AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and the Peace Corps.

It also would establish the Citizen Corps, a group to encourage people to support security efforts at home by volunteering at such places as police stations and hospitals and to boost participation in Neighborhood Watch programs.

Bush aims to recruit more than 200,000 new volunteers.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020130/ap_on_go_pr_wh/freedom_corps_1

[Darth Sidious]

How do you reverse the damage done to three generations of citizens?

The same way that God had Moses reverse the damage done to about twenty generations of Israelites...

...when the last of this cursed generation of "enlightened" power-worshipping, man-glorifying, deluded fools crumples to the ground in wretched decay, then a hardier breed of American will arise. One that fully understands that we are free by the grace of God, not the grace of other men. They'll see their responsibilities and take them up as our forefathers did.

There's still a strain of the old, true DNA at work in this body politic. It will exhibit itself, again.

[Lumberjack]

Sorry to anyone on my ping list that was already here!

Ain't no thang!

Yeah, I already responded to this thread. Good call by the poster. Strange how the cheerleaders can't seem to mumble more than a few half-hearted "well, what he really means...I mean...well...oh man, what I mean...I'll tell you later...GO BUSH!, Let's Roll!"

[A.J.Armitage]

As far as I can tell, there's no content to refute.

[verboten]

President Bush talks about citizen preparedness... Bush outlines his new citizen service initiative-the Citizen Corps, part of the Freedom Corps, which would enable Americans to participate

I wonder if Bush ever read that darn Constitution. See, some of us down here in Winston-Salem actually think that the militia does a fine job of protecting freedom and allows eveyone to participate. Some of us think an armed people will do the job of protection. We share that view with our Founders. Alas, most modern politicians think that the 2nd Amendment means that our right to keep and bear cant be infringed unless the government has a really good reason or the gun looks kinda evil.

[veronica]

Would you rather have AL GORE??

I cannot help but look at it that way. Plus, Bush is bringing in new converts. I am not happy with some things he has done - caving on the education bill is one....but when I think of Al Gore as President I thank God for GWB.

[Exnihilo]

Naughty boy, you're not allowed to tell the truth about the Republican Party.

Since when does Bush = The GOP ???

[Clemenza]

AMEN!!! YOU SAID IT!!! F--K THE SOCIALIST STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS!!!

[Twodees]

As I see it, rolling it back at the same rate that it was rolled in would get us back to the Grant administration in about 133 years. Do we have that long, and is that where we want to be after all that time?

To be a conservative today, radical thinking is in order. The problem with the current course is that all the "conservative" incrementalism has been in the wrong direction. Continuing to support the direction taken by the GOP will put us in the position of the 1951 USSR in thirty or so years.

[TLBSHOW]

Wed Jan 30, 9:11 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

The Space Needle, a high profile landmark in Seattle, apparently was targeted for attack by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network according to evidence U.S. troops recovered in Afghanistan, NBC News reported on Wednesday.

The report cited U.S. officials as saying the evidence included plans to attack other targets in Washington state, including the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River, one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams and a major power source in the Pacific Northwest.

The officials also said American troops in Afghanistan recovered designs, diagrams and surveillance photos of potential al Qaeda targets across the United States, NBC said.

Saudi-born extremist bin Laden and his Afghan-based al Qaeda fighters are blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people.

President Bush outlined the newly discovered U.S. evidence against al Qaeda in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, as he warned that the war against terror was just beginning.

"Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears and show us the true scope of the task ahead," Bush said. "We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities, detailed instructions for making chemical weapons, surveillance maps of American cities, and thorough descriptions of landmarks in America and throughout the world."

NBC said the documents found in Afghanistan also included an apparent plot to attack the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and plans to try to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport. A previous plot to bomb the airport was foiled two years ago when the would-be bomber was arrested after crossing the border from Canada.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020131/ts_nm/attack_targets_dc_2

[CubicleGuy]

Stop making sense!

;-)

[St.Chuck]

Outstanding post AAA. And from the lack of criticism your point of view has received, perhaps the Bushies have taken notice.

[Jeff Smith]

As James Carville would say if he was a Republican:

"It's the [tax cut], stupid."

There's a 1.35 trillion dollar's worth of difference between Bush and most Democrats.

Most of us here figure taxes as the number one issue. I'm not saying Bush is perfect... but as long as he maintains his position on taxes, all of his faults are neutralized. He needs support.