I Don't [Heart] Huckabee
Welcome to the new year, dear reader. And thankfully our long national nightmare is finally over. The primaries have begun. Even though the results from Iowa seem to rarely be an indicator of the results overall, two candidates who just last summer seemed to be either dead in the water or unable to catch the leader have won.
Naturally, I'm thrilled that Obama won. I'm also glad to see that Edwards made a good showing. We've got a horse race on our hands folks, and despite my doubts about Clinton I would be happy with any of the three.
But on the other side I'm starting to get a bit worried. I haven't quite been sure what to do with Huckabee. Initially he seemed to be a genuine fiscal conservative with some interesting thoughts on our current state and the non-conservatism of the so called neo-conservatives. I was always worried about his social conservatism and the fact that he's a Baptist minister (I'm sorry, but most Baptists in politics that I've seen don't seem to fit any definition of Christian that I know. Maybe that's prejudiced, but I'll at least withhold judgment), but he didn't seem to be pushing that agenda too hard. Since then several things have started to give me pause, and now I'm starting to get downright worried.
First of all, despite his saying a lot of things about the budget and economy that make sense, he has an absolutely insane idea about how to generate tax revenue. While most European countries have a value-added tax, which is similar, they don't rely on it solely. Put in the simplest terms, can you imagine everything you buy suddenly costing at least 23% more? Granted that you wouldn't have income tax getting taken out of your paycheck, and people under a certain income level would receive subsidies, but that doesn't change the sticker shock.
Even worse, it is ultimately a regressive tax. The lower your income, the greater the percentage of your income you would be paying in taxes. Plus if we've learned anything about people living in generational poverty, it's that they don't do well navigating the middle-class rules necessary to receive those subsidies. The majority of them won't even bother applying for them. So we're back to the poorest doing the most work to support the country while the rich get richer.
But the clincher to me was his response to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Apparently what we should take away from what may be the most important event this year in foreign affairs and our presence in Afghanistan is that we have a lot of illegal immigrants from Pakistan.
We've just had 8 years of a president who has no clue what's going on outside our borders. Can we really afford another 4?
Naturally, I'm thrilled that Obama won. I'm also glad to see that Edwards made a good showing. We've got a horse race on our hands folks, and despite my doubts about Clinton I would be happy with any of the three.
But on the other side I'm starting to get a bit worried. I haven't quite been sure what to do with Huckabee. Initially he seemed to be a genuine fiscal conservative with some interesting thoughts on our current state and the non-conservatism of the so called neo-conservatives. I was always worried about his social conservatism and the fact that he's a Baptist minister (I'm sorry, but most Baptists in politics that I've seen don't seem to fit any definition of Christian that I know. Maybe that's prejudiced, but I'll at least withhold judgment), but he didn't seem to be pushing that agenda too hard. Since then several things have started to give me pause, and now I'm starting to get downright worried.
First of all, despite his saying a lot of things about the budget and economy that make sense, he has an absolutely insane idea about how to generate tax revenue. While most European countries have a value-added tax, which is similar, they don't rely on it solely. Put in the simplest terms, can you imagine everything you buy suddenly costing at least 23% more? Granted that you wouldn't have income tax getting taken out of your paycheck, and people under a certain income level would receive subsidies, but that doesn't change the sticker shock.
Even worse, it is ultimately a regressive tax. The lower your income, the greater the percentage of your income you would be paying in taxes. Plus if we've learned anything about people living in generational poverty, it's that they don't do well navigating the middle-class rules necessary to receive those subsidies. The majority of them won't even bother applying for them. So we're back to the poorest doing the most work to support the country while the rich get richer.
But the clincher to me was his response to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Apparently what we should take away from what may be the most important event this year in foreign affairs and our presence in Afghanistan is that we have a lot of illegal immigrants from Pakistan.
We've just had 8 years of a president who has no clue what's going on outside our borders. Can we really afford another 4?
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