re: #623 Salamantis

He had two disasters (9-11, Katrina) and two wars to pay for. But you’re right about Iraq; he was too loyal to Rumsfeld, and listened to his counsel too long, when he should have been listening to McCain, and surging much earlier.

I understand the extraordinary spending re: disasters and war.

I do not understand Bush’s compassionate conservatism ideology that led to prescription drug benefits and social engineering on housing ownership through Freddie/Fannie, TARP and stimuli (fiscally reckless), and no child left behind (more federal government intrusion into matters that should be left to local and state governments).

re: #623 Salamantis

Socon values are not bedrock conservative values; they intrude government into peoples’ private lives and bedrooms as much as the Dems intrude themselves into peoples’ wallets and boardrooms.

I want the government out of all three.

I agree that, by and large, “Socon values” are not bedrock conservative values. I think in large part they run contrary to bedrock conservative values. However, abortion is another matter. I don’t say this because I believe governments should be regulating birth control. I say this for two reasons:

(1) This is a Rule of Law issue. The Constitution must be interpreted as written, not as we wish it were written. Roe v. Wade stands for much more than abortion. It stands for the enshrinement of uncodified rights in the Constitution that serve to diminish state sovereignty. States are sovereign and have general police powers. The federal government, and the Constitution for that matter, has no role in the abortion issue.

(2) After viability (at the latest), abortion is no longer a simple matter of birth control, it is a question of the protection of human life - which state governments are empowered to protect.

But, in general, I agree that “Socon” values have done great damage to American conservatism. Huckabee was the worst manifestation of the pseudo-conservative “Socon” movement. Huckabee’s candidacy was nothing more than a leftist/populist movement with a sprinkling of Bible-friendly rhetoric. Who would have ever thought that a GOP candidate who claims to be conservative would call certain people’s salaries “immoral”?