How conservative is the president?

The Baxter Bulletin || October 30, 2005

How right is George W. Bush?

It's a question many conservatives around the country should be asking themselves. Over the course of his presidency, Bush, has consistently strayed from conservative values.

During his term Bush has not exercised the veto a single time. That has led runaway budget deficits from 2002 through this year. In 2004 the budget deficit rose by $412 billion, a record one year total. Add in his proposed Hurricane Katrina relief efforts (which could top $200 billion, with no czar or director to monitor the flow of money) and the deficit and government bureaucracy are likely to grow even more. Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington D.C., said "The notion of a limited government and a frugal government has been shattered by this administration which cares far less about a limited government."

The president's five-year streak of not using the veto is reaching historic proportions. Every president since Franklin Roosevelt (who issued a record setting 635 vetoes) has exercised the veto at least 20 times.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

Would a fiscally conservative president allow Congress to fund every single pork barrel project it desires and expand the size of the federal government?

Another area in which the president is at odds with conservatives is the role of government in citizens' lives. His fervent support of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to wiretap citizen's phone lines and examine library checkout records to search for terrorist activity, runs counter to the conservative tenet of less government intrusion. He also supports a proposal in which millions of immigrants will be allowed to work in this country with temporary work visas.

It's strange that our president thinks the government can stop terrorists by scouring over library records while at the same time allowing millions of immigrants (and possible terrorists) to cross our border.

In the 2000 primary election Republican voters chose Bush over controversial Arizona Senator John McCain. McCain has been roundly criticized by conservatives for his stance on immigration (which is the same as the president's) and for sponsoring the McCain/Fiengold Bill in Congress, which limits the amount of "soft money" corporations can funnel into political campaigns. What's ironic is that President Bush signed the McCain/Fiengold Bill into law in 2002.

Our president thrust us into war in March of 2003 under the pretense Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and had links to Al Qaida. Our military didn't find any weapons of mass destruction and the links to Al Qaida have never been proven. But the president says our mission now is to build a democratic society in Iraq. A conservative president involved in nation building? Did I miss something?

When George Bush was elected, conservative pundits thought he would bring honor and integrity to the White House. Honor and integrity seem to have been pushed aside with the indictment of White House staffer Scooter Libby (and further indictments against others pending) for revealing the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame and the lies that may have been told to cover it up.

I'm an independent and I agree with some of the President's stances. Conservatives look in the mirror. If George W. Bush is a conservative, are you?

Home

Weekly Features

In Depth

Coming Soon:

9-11

Clinton vs. Bush

Archive

August 2005
September 2005

October 2005

01
02 03 04 05 06 07 08
09 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31