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Is Bush a Moderate or What?
Topic Started: Dec 1 2003, 12:54 PM (132 Views)
Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
I saw some recent discussion about whether Bush is a moderate or leans to the right.

I personally am a Bush supporter, but some of his descisions on domestic issues recently I have disagreed with as a conservative (capitalist)

When he came into office one of the first things he did was push for tax cuts. This I loved and my only criticism is that they should have been much deeper. Sort of conservative.

The steel tarrifs I don't like. This pushes him toward the center in my opinion.

The recent medicare junk definately pushes him toward the center.

Bush and the Republican congress have failed to control (and reduce) government spending in the last year and it has increased too much. They can't blame it all on the war. In this respect the Grand Ole Party has not been conservative enough for me. But at least they don't claim to have a balanced book by cooking in the social security numbers like the Clintons did.

So, I think Bush is mostly moderate. I support him because his positions most overlap mine. Though I would like to see him and the rest of the party much more conservative.

And what do you think?
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Fesarius
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Admiral
38957,

Could it be (possibly) that President Bush is a conservative, and that you are an ultra-conservative? That's an observation, not a criticism. :)
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Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
Fesarius
Dec 1 2003, 01:40 PM
38957,

Could it be (possibly) that President Bush is a conservative, and that you are an ultra-conservative?  That's an observation, not a criticism. :)

I guess if it is subjective then you are correct in a manner of speaking.

I would say that there defining characteristics of conservatives that make it an objective compare. For instance a conservative is for:

  • Low Taxes
  • Free trade
  • No or little tarrifs
  • no social entitlement programs
  • little government regulation and interference in the private sector
  • low government spending and balanced budget
  • Private sector control where possible
Basically in line with the constitution and the spirit under which it was written.

By these criteria, I would not consider Bush a solid conservative, but closer to moderate. I would consider myself a mainstream conservative.

The ultra-right would view these principles bureacratically with little flexibility and intelligence. For instance, I don't like social security but I would try to repair it rather that cut it off as it is clear that people depend upon it. Also, in principle banking regulation and bail-outs I do not agree with but they have been necessary to save our economy on occasion.
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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
Bush is definitely a conservative, but he wants to keep the middle (the country club Republicans and the Reagan Democrats) firmly in his camp... not that I think they'd support Dean or Gephardt (Lieberman maybe).

I e-mailed the White House to inform them of my displeasure of last year's steel tariffs. I'm surprised they went on past last fall. The Medicare bill, unless revised, is going to cost us an arm and a leg, but it took discussion about Social Security off the table.

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