It should come as no surprise for those that know me that I will not be voting for George W. Bush. As a record for myself and future historians, I’ve decided to explicitly state and list my reasons for not supporting the current President (I have no delusions of changing anyone’s political opinions). I’ve based my judgments upon the following:
- The current administration’s record during the past four years: I’ve attempted to limit my critiques here to actions and agenda driven or passed by the administration, rather than general occurrences of the past four years that the current administration is only tangentially involved with, if at all. For example, I don’t believe the 9/11 attacks are this administration’s fault, but I believe it is fair to evaluate the administration’s reactions to the event.
- His stated plans for the next four years: This is primarily based upon his official website, specifically his Agenda for America, however I’m also taking content from the debates and campaign speeches. Evaluating in this dimension is a bit more difficult. Since political promises frequently fail to match reality, a healthy dose of skepticism is involved when analyzing plans.
The Past Four Years
My life has changed significantly during the Bush administration. I completed my degree(s), moved across the country, and now spend my days as a corporate drone. My cash flow went from slightly negative to significantly positive, and I pay a significant amount of federal taxes on income and (to a much lesser degree) capital gains. Economically, I am far better off than I was four years ago, but I am not convinced that the Bush administration had any affect.
[Aside: Some might argue that the Bush administration actually had a significant affect on my employment, for various reasons:
- Microsoft’s Anti-Trust Case: Some say Bush went easy on Microsoft, had Bush not been in office, Microsoft could be in worse financial shape, or even split in two.
- Tax Cuts and the Market: One could argue that without Bush’s tax cuts and other economic initiatives the recession would have been worse, possibly affecting my job.
I haven’t given the Anti-Trust case much thought, but I don’t think it would have negatively impacted me because I didn’t own any shares, and I have a hard time imagining all of the jobs in Redmond disappearing due to a court decision.
I’m not convinced Bush made a significantly positive impact on the economy with his tax cuts, and I certainly don’t believe he (or any other president) can in good faith take credit for favorable state of the stock market except in very rare cases (if Bush can take credit for staving off a deeper recession, can Clinton take credit for market in the 90s?). Even if the administration impacted the market, Microsoft’s unique financial situation gives me a high degree of job security.]
There is very little that the Bush Administration has done that has directly and significantly affected my life in the past four years (I don’t consider the tax cuts significant). However, I have disagreed with the administration in nearly all of its legislation and policy (Originally I was going to point to sources and references for each of my points below, but it’s far too time consuming and I doubt any one would bother reading the information. If there’s something you disagree with, or are curious about, leave a comment and I’ll track down sources [or correct myself]):
- Taxes and Spending: I believe it is irresponsible to blatantly disregard the deficit. New government spending should be explicitly funded and accounted for in the budget. Tax cuts must be balanced with spending cuts, and surpluses should be used to pay off our existing deficit as well as redistributed as tax cuts. The Bush administration has failed on all of these counts, increasing spending while lowering taxes (with significant funds going to the wealthiest and corporations). I do not believe that large tax cuts to the wealthy are the best way to stimulate growth, as the lower and middle classes are more likely to spend the extra cash, and less likely to invest the money overseas.
- Civil Liberties: I find John Ashcroft’s vision of security appalling; the current administration has continually limited civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism.
- Environment: Regardless of their Orwellian names, the little I have read and understand about these acts leads me to believe they serve primarily economic, not ecological, interests, that do little to curtail polluting and loss of wilderland. The current administration’s science record is appalling. I am against the opening of the Artic Reserve for drilling.
- Education: I don’t know much about this area, but the little I do know about the No Child Left Behind Act, I do not like. From my limited analysis and reading, there are three things I dislike:
- Broad, Federal Legislation: An elementary school in Manhattan is very different than one in rural Kansas. Techniques that work in one school are unlikely to work in the other. Enacting Federal legislation that covers such a wide range of situations is guaranteed to be sub-optimal. Apparently the Department of Education is adding some flexibility, but my complaint still stands.
- Unfunded Legislation: Conforming to the act can be costly, especially for rural schools, and no funding was provided. Note that I don’t believe the Federal government should be funding schools (see above), but I think it’s unfair to impose regulations without funding (if they’re not paying for it, why should they have a say?).
- Strong Emphasis on Standardized Test Scores: This is likely a symptom of my first complaint, but placing such strong emphasis on standardized test will teach students to … take standardized tests well.
- Foreign Policy: This is one of the least important issues for me, and also one in which I’m not very well educated. It is a poor financial decision to undertake major military operations without significant support from allies, and I believe that the Bush administration’s foreign policy has caused significant animosity toward America and I fail to see how it is advantageous. I don’t have enough information to make an informed decision regarding Iraq and other issues, but I believe the administrations attitudes and communication have been poorly thought out.
- Health Care, Social Security, Medicare, others: I don’t know enough about these issue to have an informed opinion.
The Next Four Years
Evaluating the administration based upon the Agenda for America is difficult. For example, Chapter 5 lists the following amongst his environmental initiatives:
Healthy Forests - President Bush will carry out the new authorities provided by the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to restore the health and vitality of forests and rangelands, reducing the threat of catastrophic wild fires, saving lives, property, and wildlife habitat, and reducing air and water pollution.
The statement above is all motherhood and apple pie, and obviously can’t be taken at face value. Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor expertise to analyze the full act itself. Cursory research finds opposing views, which have as much likely bias as those of the White House. I am biased toward the opposing view, given my knowledge (and prejudice) against the republican agenda when it comes to environmental factors, but obviously my evaluations are flawed in this respect.
Another example, from the same chapter:
Healthy Marriage and Fatherhood - The President has proposed supporting healthy marriages and fatherhood through research, demonstration projects, technical assistance on family formation, and healthy marriage activities.
This post is far too long at is, so I’ll get some of Bush’s top issues:
- Estate Tax: Repealing the “Death Tax” has been on the President’s agenda since 2000, often citing lost family farms as motivation behind the repeal. The Estate Tax kicks in between three-quarters of and two million dollars, affecting the top two percent of estates. If saving family farms is the goal here (which is doubtful), then Bush should expand the exemptions that already exist instead of repealing the tax altogether. If the goal were to simply cut taxes, then I believe that there are better tax cuts that can be made to help the economy (again, ones which benefit the lower and middle class).
- Gay Marriage: I think it’s ludicrous to amend the constitution in order to prevent states from making their own decisions regarding gay marriages. I also believe marriage should not be defined or subsidized by the federal (or any) government, and generally believe these matters are best left to the states (let Utah enact whatever nasty laws they want, we’re cool in Washington).
- Abortion, Stem Cell Research, Sex Education, etc: I realize this is a broad grouping of issues, but the administrations positions here seem to be backed by a system of faith-based beliefs that I do not share. I am pro-choice, support Stem Cell Research (including new lines), and do not believe that abstinence-only sex education is a viable option for preventing pregnancies and disease.
- Taxes and Spending: Bush’s website lists many new spending initiatives and tax cuts, I don’t see the four more years of Bush being better than the last in this area. I realize that it is in my best interest financially to agree with the Bush proposals, but I cannot agree to them in good faith because I do not believe they are sustainable, and will have to be paid for by future generations.
Obviously there are more issues, but I do not have the time to go through issue by issue, read enough background information, make an informed opinion, and write up my reasoning. I feel comfortable with my stance against Bush given the reasons I’ve listed above, and I can’t imagine his remaining policy would sway me otherwise.
