5/27/2004
Is Bush A Conservative?? by Tim Phares for the Washington Times
Is Bush a conservative?
You wrote in the Monday editorial "Bush's conservative support" that "the president showed why conservatives will support him in November: Because he is one of them." Unfortunately, he is not.
Under President Bush, the Republican Party has become the party of big government. The government has grown bigger and bigger, with more agencies, bureaucracies and enforcement programs. This president and a Republican Congress have given us an 8.2 percent annual increase in discretionary domestic spending (that's non-defense, non-entitlement), far greater than anything during the Clinton administration or any other administration since Richard Nixon's. This administration has given us the largest new entitlement program in almost four decades. Mr. Bush has yet to veto a single spending bill.
Mr. Bush refuses to secure our borders. He has proposed a de facto amnesty for illegal aliens. He has given us an unconstitutional campaign-finance law that prohibits corporations and unions from talking about any federal candidate 60 days before an election.
This administration gave us a massive federal education spending bill, a function not authorized by the Constitution, without even school choice or other reform provisions. It gave us a massive agricultural subsidy bill. Then it gave a massive insurance bailout to supplement the massive agriculture bill. It gave us steel tariffs.
Mr. Bush has said he opposes overturning Roe v. Wade. He has allowed some stem-cell research. He has created new programs for the government to spy on ordinary, law-abiding Americans with the Patriot Act.
Mr. Bush has sent American soldiers to serve under U.N. authority. The Bush administration apologized to China after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese plane, instead of demanding an apology from the Chinese for this act.
This is not a conservative record. It is the record of a "me-too" liberal Republican. If conservatives want to vote for a genuine principled conservative, they should consider supporting Michael Peroutka, a Marylander, on the Constitution Party ticket.
TIM PHARES
Laurel
You wrote in the Monday editorial "Bush's conservative support" that "the president showed why conservatives will support him in November: Because he is one of them." Unfortunately, he is not.
Under President Bush, the Republican Party has become the party of big government. The government has grown bigger and bigger, with more agencies, bureaucracies and enforcement programs. This president and a Republican Congress have given us an 8.2 percent annual increase in discretionary domestic spending (that's non-defense, non-entitlement), far greater than anything during the Clinton administration or any other administration since Richard Nixon's. This administration has given us the largest new entitlement program in almost four decades. Mr. Bush has yet to veto a single spending bill.
Mr. Bush refuses to secure our borders. He has proposed a de facto amnesty for illegal aliens. He has given us an unconstitutional campaign-finance law that prohibits corporations and unions from talking about any federal candidate 60 days before an election.
This administration gave us a massive federal education spending bill, a function not authorized by the Constitution, without even school choice or other reform provisions. It gave us a massive agricultural subsidy bill. Then it gave a massive insurance bailout to supplement the massive agriculture bill. It gave us steel tariffs.
Mr. Bush has said he opposes overturning Roe v. Wade. He has allowed some stem-cell research. He has created new programs for the government to spy on ordinary, law-abiding Americans with the Patriot Act.
Mr. Bush has sent American soldiers to serve under U.N. authority. The Bush administration apologized to China after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese plane, instead of demanding an apology from the Chinese for this act.
This is not a conservative record. It is the record of a "me-too" liberal Republican. If conservatives want to vote for a genuine principled conservative, they should consider supporting Michael Peroutka, a Marylander, on the Constitution Party ticket.
TIM PHARES
Laurel
use rss for FYI from BATR
