HOW CONSERVATIVE IS PRESIDENT BUSH?

The Cato Institute ^ | August 3, 2002 | By Veronique de Rugy

[Uncle Bill]

How Conservative Is President Bush?

The Cato Institute
By Veronique de Rugy
August 3, 2002
Source

Veronique de Rugy is a fiscal policy analyst at the Cato Institute.

President Bush may be repeating the sins of his father. Although elected on a Reaganesque, tax-cutting platform, the White House has veered to the left. President Bush has signed a bill to regulate political speech, issued protectionist taxes on imported steel and lumber, backed big-spending education and farm bills, and endorsed massive new entitlements for mental health care and prescription drugs. When the numbers are added up, in fact, it looks like President Bush is less conservative than President Clinton.

It makes little sense to discourage one's core supporters prior to a mid-term election. Yet that is the result when a Republican president expands government, which Bush is doing. Also, academic research on voting patterns shows that a president is most likely to get re-elected if voters are enjoying an increase in disposable income. Yet making government bigger is not a recipe for economic growth. After all, there is a reason why Hong Kong grows so fast and France is an economic basket case. But you can't tell that to the Bush administration.

Administration officials privately admit that much of the legislation moving through Congress represents bad public policy. Yet they argue either that everything must take a back seat to the war on terror (much as the first Bush administration treated the war against Iraq) or that compromises are necessary to neutralize issues such as education. But motives and rationalizations do not repeal the laws of economics.

In less than two years, President Bush has presided over more government expansion than took place during eight years of Bill Clinton. For instance:

• The education bill expands federal involvement in education. The administration originally argued that the new spending was a necessary price to get vouchers and other reforms. Yet the final bill boosted spending and was stripped of almost all reform initiatives. And there is every reason to believe that this new spending will be counter-productive, like most other federal money spent on education in the past 40 years. Children and taxpayers are the big losers.

• The farm bill is best characterized as a bipartisan orgy of special interest politics. Making a mockery of the Freedom to Farm Act, the new legislation boosts farm spending to record levels. Old subsidies have been increased and new subsidies created. Perhaps worst of all, the administration no longer has the moral credibility to pressure the European Union to reform its socialized agricultural policies. Taxpayers and consumers are the big losers.

• The protectionist decisions on steel and lumber imports make free traders wish Bill Clinton were still president. These restrictions on world commerce have undermined the productivity of U.S. manufacturers by boosting input prices and creating massive ill will in the international community. American products already have been targeted for reciprocal treatment. Consumers and manufacturers are the big losers.

• The campaign finance law is an effort to protect the interests of incumbent politicians by limiting free speech rights during elections. The administration openly acknowledged that the legislation is unconstitutional, yet was unwilling to make a principled argument for the Bill of Rights and fair elections. Voters and the Constitution are the big losers.

• New health care entitlements are akin to throwing gasoline on a fire. Medicare and Medicaid already are consuming enormous resources, and the burden of these programs will become even larger when the baby boom generation retires. Adding a new prescription drug benefit will probably boost spending by $1 trillion over 10 years. A mandate for mental health coverage will drive up medical costs, making insurance too expensive for many more families.

Those policy decisions make government bigger and more expensive. They also slow the economy and hurt financial markets -- read the headlines lately? For all his flaws, President Clinton's major policy mistake was the 1993 tax increase. Other changes, such as the welfare reform bill, NAFTA, GATT, farm deregulation, telecommunications deregulation, and financial services deregulation, moved policy in a market-oriented direction.

Perhaps most importantly, there was a substantial reduction in federal spending as a share of gross domestic product during the Clinton years. Using the growth of domestic spending as a benchmark, Clinton was the second most conservative president of the post-World War II era, trailing only Ronald Reagan.

To be sure, much of the credit for Clinton's good policy probably belongs to the Republican Congress, but that is not an excuse for bad policy today. And on one positive note, President Bush has "promised" to fight for partial privatization of Social Security. Yet, so far, President Bush has not vetoed a single piece of legislation. Needless to say, this means it will be rather difficult to blame "big-spending" Democrats if the economy continues to sputter.

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Compassionate Conservatism Means Big Government

No To 'Compassionate Conservatism'
"Marvin Olasky, the former Marxist journalism professor who coined the term. But he and George W. Bush are barking up the wrong tree if they think "compassionate conservatism" is going to rally popular support necessary to effect the real change needed to turn this country around."

President Highlights Compassionate Conservative Agenda for Inner Cities

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If You Want Increasing Huge Government, Vote Bush

BUSH SPENDING BILL LARGEST EVER

U.S. quietly OKs fetal stem cell work - Bush allows funding despite federal limits on embryo use

Bush Signs Largest Family Planning Bill In U.S. History

Un El día En El la vida de Jorge W. La arbusto

OPEN BORDERS

Bush's 'open door' slammed

"I told the Congress that I want to make sure that the Mexican citizen here is well-respected," Bush said. "And one way to do that is to pass 245I."

CFR - "I Believe In Free Speech"

Meanwhile, Back On The Farm

Bush Urges Congress To Deliver on Prescription Drugs For Medicare

• AARP Likes Bush's Prescription Drug Plan

GOP Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Advances in House - Another Trillion Dollars

Pig Book - 2002

Orgy At Federal Trough

Bush and House Republicans Push Legislation For Full Drug Subsidies For Low-Income Elderly

Bush Prepares 'Big-Time' Response To African Famine

Government Spending - War Against The Stock Market

Bush signs debt-limit increase

Bush Pushes Minority Homeownership

Bush's Food Stamp Plan Called Ethnic Pandering

Bush Wants Food Stamps For Non-Citizens

Worse Than Drunken Sailors!

Senate Clears Way For Trade Bill - More Spending

BUSH AND THE BIG GOVERNMENT GOP

Security Bill Loaded With Wasteful PORK

Senate Ok's $31.5 Billion Anti-Terror Bill Loaded With Pork

How Bad Can Things Get?

George W. Bush and Gun Control

Bush Pushes Gore Plan For Orwellian Government

Bush Backs Down From Immunity Demand - Caves Again

Bush administration has been "as bad, if not worse" than the Clinton administration when it comes to the transfer of sensitive technologies to the People's Republic of China

BUSH, G7 to pay $20 billion to get rid of Russian nuke stockpiles

George W. Bush - The Global Warming Sell-Out

• George W. Bush Told Americans Before Elected That He Was A Global Warming Wacko

• Conservatives Angered by Environmental Provision [Bush pulls another Al Gore]

Dubya's New Deal - The New FDR

• Roosevelt -- Man Of The Century?

Bush Won't Label Arafat A Terrorist

George W. Bush's Terrorist Buddy

"When peoplelose faith in their institutions they trust to enforce the law, justice is no longer possible."

Bush Caves On Airport Screeners

Bush's Latest Srategic Mistake

BUSH: NINE FORMER PRESIDENTS WRONG; CLINTON RIGHT!

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? GEORGE BUSH'S NEVER-ENDING DOMESTIC BUDGET BUILD-UP - Father Like Son

Bush Appoints Four More Homosexuals

Dr. James Dobson Criticizes Bush Appointment to the CDC

Bush Pushes $500 Million HIV/Aids Funding For Africa

Bush to Propose Another $100 Million Over Five Years for Education in Africa

Are You Fat? No Problem, George W. Bush Will Help

House Conservatives Budge on Arts Spending

Bush Cheers Government Support For Art

Bush to Name Justice Dept. BUILDING After Kennedy

GOP Right In Iowa Fear Purge

GOP Leaders Spurn Right in Key Races

Laura Ingraham's analysis of yet another Bush betrayal

Bush decisions rankle conservatives

BUSH PROPOSES LARGEST EXPANSION OF GOVERNMENT SINCE TRUMAN

Bush's Record Calls into Question His Conservative Label

Conservatives Question Dubya's Direction

Conservatives not satisfied with Bush's record

Bush, Ashcroft Run Roughshod Over Bill Of Rights, Study Says

Republicans: Big Government Addicts

A Few Questions For Die-Hard Bush Supporters

Are Republicans losing their constituency?

Ann Coulter: BUSH PAYS HOMAGE TO THE FETISHISTIC RITUALS OF LIBERALISM

Compassionate conservatism is about socialism, not Americanism

Bush is jettisoning his principles for what?

Bush: stop the runaway federal spending and regulating!

Mark Levin Hammers Bushbots

Was Clinton More Conservative Than Bush? - Fox News

Bush: A Democrat in Republican clothing?

Bush continues Clinton Agenda

GEORGE W. BUSH: CLINTON'S THIRD TERM ©

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Bush's Court Jester

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"Another way to make sure that we foster growth and restore confidence is to hold people accountable for misdeeds in the public sector."
George W. Bush - University of Alabama at Birmingham Alys Stephens Center - July 15, 2002.

NOTE: Do As I Say, Not As I Do.

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A Bush administration insider has privately leaked word that a deal was struck between Democratic congressional leaders and the Bush White House not to prosecute Bill and/or Hillary Clinton

Bush Administration Lawyers Defending Hillary - Gratis

Bush and Ashcroft Justice Dept. Hamstringing Pardongate Probers.

Bill Clinton broke the law and the Republicans let him off the hook.

What we need is the tough Newt Gingrich back.

"As far back as April 7, 1998, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich was asked on NBC’s Today if he were going to press for impeachment. His response: "No, we don’t have any evidence."
Source.

Al Gore Broke The Law and the Republicans let him off the hook.

"I don’t care if you have proof that he raped a woman, stood up and shot her dead, you’re still not going to get 67 votes."

Bush Says He Wants to Let Clinton 'Move On'
"Listen, here's my view: I think it's time to get all of this business behind us. I think it's time ... to allow the president to finish his term, and let him move on and enjoy life and become an active participant in the American system. And I think we've had enough focus on the past. It's time to move forward." - George W. Bush.

Bush Won't Dwell On Clinton Affair, "We're Moving Forward"
"B/S, Mr Bush. Clinton is a criminal and a traitor. We demand a thorough investigation and prosecution. Our Republic is dead and our liberty is at stake if the next administration does not clean up this mess for now and forever more. Corrupt politicians must pay the price for subverting our Constitution and using their offices for personal gain."
4 Posted on 01/20/2000 14:17:56 PST by Jim Robinson

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A Republic If We Can Keep It - Bush Trashing The Constitution

It's About The Republic, Not The Republican

How Big Is The Government's Debt? - $33.1 TRILLION

There Must Be Some Way Out Of Here

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"Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes,"
George W. Bush - SOURCE.

[Sandy]

I'm not a member of the Libertarian Party. I think you have me confused with someone else.

[2Trievers]

Anyone posting this info on their homepage is opening themselves up to ALL kinds of trouble ...

Location: Raleigh
E-mail: lweaton@hotmail.com

My degrees are not in astrophysics ... but I can bring this info to any phone search engine and within minutes have a ball ... Please! And for an extra $9.95 splurge open a Cracker Jack box with a surprise inside.

[terilyn]

Sorry, missed you on the list to #336.

[Texasforever]

2 dees has just put himself in a real bind assuming he gave his correct name and address to me. I think he has a problem with who the "drunk" is around here.

[TLBSHOW]

Ted Kennedy LOL

[terilyn]

You should check out #336 also. Do you think it's ok to post all of this personal info on somebody else on a public forum?

Don't forget, Registered posted not only Howlin's info, but the info of five or six other women with her same name.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Personally, I think this President is doing an amazing job, under horrendous circumstances. Everybody we speak with state how they are "RELIEVED" that he and his administration are at the helm. They also realize that he could never have caused the mess we are in regarding our nations security, nor economy, so early into his Presidency. THANKFULLY, most people get it.

THAT is a HUGE threat to the RATS, and boy is it showing!!

Just look at FR lately. Listen to the news. They are HYSTERICAL.

Guess the President is doing a pretty good job. The clamor is getting louder and louder. But he is solid. And he won't sway to the polls. Thank GOD!!

I've said it a hundred times lately, when the dust settles, and we see all he has done (much of which we CANNOT KNOW because of the people it would compromise..and thankfully this adminstration UNDERSTANDS THAT!!) we will realize as a nation how truly fortunate we were to have had "THE ADULTS" return.

PRAYERS continue for this man, and his administration. Because our NATION NEEDS FOR HIM TO SUCCEED!!

[2sheep]

Thanks for the bump, Uncle Bill.  Usually Uncle Bill threads are link intensive, full of info, and with very little dialogue.  This one grew in just 4 hours to over 300 posts!

>>When the numbers are added up, in fact, it looks like President Bush is less conservative than President Clinton.

I just arrived and have a lot to read.  I see by the above line that no greater stir could be made if one pee'd on another's idol.  Tsk, tsk.  Perhaps someone forgot this:  Ex 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Nice pic of the pigeons.  See how they bow.

[TLBSHOW]

Knock yourself out then.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Yes I could and will not and neither will you. LOL

Actually tex, you have not only read many of them, but you have actually posted to some. Many of those links/articles have been on the board....

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

You're missing the important point here. Howlin's first name is already fairly well known on this forum, and she has her last name, middle initial, and city/state posted on her home page. People who wish to remain anonymous, shouldn't post their personal info here. Does that make sense?

I know quite a bit about Howlin, and I learned things about her that night. Prior to Registered's post, I wouldn't have known how to find her neighborhood, but I could now. I wouldn't have been able to identify what was on her profile page as her "middle initial" as you just did (I'm sure she'll appreciate that, too) - and he gave away more than that.

I say that those who think this is nothing should put up or shut up. Post their own full names and addresses. No one has a right to do to her what Registered did, no matter how much personal information some might know about her.

If he ever did that to you, I would be just as outraged - but how anyone can excuse this in the slightest is just beyond my comprehension. Do you think he has the you-know-whats to post similar information about himself? I don't. And he should never have done it to someone else - especially to a woman.

[sjeann]

Very few give Bush a free pass, but what do you want freepers to do- mount up a movement to impeach Bush because he isn't conservative enough, vote third party in protest and let the democrats take over because he isn't conservative enough, complain on the internet hoping if things get desperate enough people will rise up? I'm a long time reader here and appreciate the criticism, but you tell me, what is your solution.

[Twodees]

If this is what he posted, then he did cross the line. What I got when I entered "Elizabeth Dole" was pretty much diddly, her name, not even a middle name, Rowan county and the address of her polling place.

What did you have to enter to get that result? All I had was her first and last name.

[Texasforever]

Care to defend Dubya on this charge??

He has asked that local law enforcement agencies help in arresting illegal aliens. They told him to piss up a rope. He is bringing the INS enforcement body under the Homeland Security Department; he has been accused of creating a police state. He has asked that congress review Posse Comitatus Act to determine if troops can be used to patrol the borders, he has been accused of plotting a dictatorship. Should I go on?

[Sandy]

Click on her name and you have her voter ID number, name, address, birthdate, ethnicity, gender, party, polling place.

Maybe. But if you search Howlin's name, all you get back is her name, location, polling place, and white/female/republican. No birthdate, no address. Same thing when I searched my name.

[Joe Hadenuf]

You're missing the important point here. Howlin's first name is already fairly well known on this forum, and she has her last name, middle initial, and city/state posted on her home page. People who wish to remain anonymous, shouldn't post their personal info here. Does that make sense?

Yes that does make sense, as I say this from experience and the business I happen to be in. You are absolutely, 100 percent correct.

[Texasforever]

You can't. But you also can't admit you were wrong, wrong, wrong about the spaghetti-spined pile of crap you backed. So you fall back on the tried and true shift the blame tactics of your other secret hero, Bill Clinton. Your credibility has been shattered.

Nice to see you too. LOL

[TLBSHOW]

give it up sandy