Candidate Corner: George Bush

Posted by: Gene M. | Dec 21,2007

In one very obvious way, George Bush is not running.  In another way, he’s the biggest presence in this presidential race, for both sides of the aisle.  So he deserves his own post.  If you’ve read my candidate posts, you probably realize that I’m more left-leaning than right.  There, I said it.  I favor the Democratic position, especially when it comes to economic issues.

The thing is a lot Republicans feel the same way.  A conservative like Andrew Sullivan jumped ship from the George Bush-led Republican party for the reason that, ironically, he was spending like a tax and spend liberal, except without the tax part.  That kind of economic outlook is just not tenable for the long term.  Honestly, I think George Bush is giving “tax and spend” a good name because irresponsible spending with no payment plan is like a consumer racking up a huge credit card debt while being unemployed.  Today it might work, but come time when he needs to pay up, he just might have to file for bankruptcy.  

The Republicans are in a tough position though.  They can’t exactly run against George Bush in the primaries because that would be something like running against the Republican party.  Still, whoever comes into office in 2009 will have to reform how we are currently spending.  I may lean Democratic but I do have the faith that most Republicans running now will run the country differently (read: more responsibly) than the current administration.  Even if their rhetoric right now is not anti-Bush, their platforms suggest more fiscal discipline.  With the War in Iraq costing billions of dollars, Social Security about to be unimaginably taxed, and the credit crisis making people tighten up their wallets – to name a few major issues – the economy is in need of some serious reworking.  

Personally, I think the Democrat’s position makes more sense to improve on our current situation.  I don’t think deregulation makes any sense because it leads to things like the current subprime crisis, as well as to how every day credit cardholders are overwhelmed by bad fine print terms.  I’m not a Ron Paul-type who thinks that government should stay out of our affairs. Though government has its problems, deregulation is a kind of business anarchy.  The people who usually suffer for it are lower income and middle class consumers.  Yes, I believe the top 1% should be taxed more – a basic liberal precept.  The fact is that both parties are going to need to find a way to pay for our current system, and I’d prefer this wasn’t done by cutting social programs and instead taken from those making insane amounts of money.

Ha, perhaps this entry should have been called, “Candidate Corner: Gene M.”  I feel better now.  I feel like I’ve been holding back my true position to preserve some objectivity.  But this is a blog, dangit.  A place where opinions run amok.  Now you know where I’m coming from.  

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