On days like this, I wonder if I'm still a Republican. Here's an e-mail from Huck PAC, the legacy of Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential run:
- Energy Independence.
- Tax Reform.
- Border Security.
- Life.
- Defending Marriage.
During the campaign we fought together for these issues and many more.
On the issues listed:
- Means I cannot get energy from Canada. Dumb idea. Start fighting for energy security, at the very least.
- Means we'll spend time fighting about secondary issues like how we raise revenue rather than primary issues like why we don't raise enough revenue to pay our bills.
- Is a very good idea. I'm with you Mike.
- Is a very tough issue. Sometimes I'm with you, sometimes not. The fight will go on. Let's keep it civil.
- Marriage needs no defense from monogamous homosexual couples.
But more disturbing is what's not on the list. The fight should always be for individual freedom in as many ways as possible; for government limited in scope but not its effectiveness; and for peaceful relations between different nations and peoples around the globe.
Right on, Brother
Right on, Brother Samwick.
jbg
Independence? Security?
Energy Independence would be easy. It would also require (currently) producing about 1/3 to 1/4 what we do now.
Speaking for those of us who have spent several hours in the past few weeks traveling where 87 North becomes 15 North, I'm rather convinced there's enough border security. But that (may be) neither here nor there.
What is key is that border security is paid for by government funds, 99.44% of the time to government workers. You want border security? You're expanding the Federal (and several States's) payrolls. And, as with Baumol's example of the string quartet, you can't patrol hundreds of miles with just cameras and satellites—so those are permanent positions. (By contrast, the DMV and SocSec Administrations, e.g., can be largely automated, requiring human contact in the same manner as banks need fewer, better tellers when ATMs are available.)
So the Huckabee campaign was for lower productivity, higher deficits, more government employees, and two social issues.
Gosh, I wonder how he lost.
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