Scratch one
From Fox News Sunday yesterday:
[CHRIS] WALLACE: Now, Thompson and McCain both talk about leaving abortion and gay marriage to the states, the way, in the case of abortion, it was before Roe vs. Wade ever became the law of the land in the first place.I like Huckabee and agree with him on several issues, particularly his support of the FairTax. While, in my humble opinion, he isn't ready to be Prez, I've been thinking of him as a good choice for VP. After eight year's seasoning in that position -- especially since it's going to take quite a while for the FairTax -- maybe, then, consideration for Prez.
Why isn't that good enough, basically making this a federal issue and leaving it up to each state?
HUCKABEE: Well, it's the logic of the Civil War. If morality is the point here, and if it's right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can't have 50 different versions of what's right and what's wrong.
Again, that's what the whole Civil War was about. Can you have states saying slavery is OK, other states saying it's not?
If abortion is a moral issue — and for many of us it is, and I know for others it's not. So if you decide that it's just a political issue, then that's a perfectly acceptable, logical conclusion.
But for those of us for whom this is a moral question, you can't simply have 50 different versions of what's right.
Then came the portion of yesterday's interview I quoted above.
Abortion is a no-win argument and not the reason I've scratched Huckabee completely from consideration.
I'm neither a Constitutional expert nor a lawyer, but I actually did try to read the Roe v Wade decision years ago. Because of a penumbra of an illumination (or some such), abortion became a Federal right based the Constitution.
Reading and understanding legal stuff is not my strong suit, but the impression it left with me was that the Justice who wrote that mumbo-jumbo was stretching as hard as he could to make his personal preferences into law, forcing it on all of us.
I'd just as soon the Feds leave us all the hell alone as much as possible. Let each state handle what's important to the people living within its boundaries, and that includes abortion.
(Another issue in which Fred Thompson agrees with ME!)
Not Huckabee. Because abortion is morally offensive to HIM, if elected he promises to use the powers of the Federal government to force his beliefs on everyone. To me, that makes him no better than the judge who crafted Roe v. Wade.
Or, any of the Dem candidates who believe we are all nothing more than puppets dancing to the strings the Feds pull.
Labels: Politics
posted by doyle at 4:57 PM
11 Comments:
Every bit of that makes perfect sense, even though I'm pro-life. The states power has been slowly shifted away and it needs to be returned. I'm all for the fair tax as well.
I admit to not looking very hard at Huckabee because I felt he didn't have much of a chance. :/
The way things are going with Thompson -unless someone lights a fire under him- I'll have to look elsewhere soon.
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Solicitation of campaign funds by a Huckabee supporter deleted.
With none of the lesser candidates -- except Brownback -- bowing out yet, I think Thompson's doing fine sitting comfortably as second or third in the major polls.
Doyle, abortion is morally offensive to me...but it ain't my call. I figure it is between a woman and her conscience..not mine.
I have also read the Roe vs Wade..and I figure it was judicial legislation by activist judges. I would like to see it returned to the states to decide for themselves..and Huckabee's logic is full of holes..
Take alcohol for instance..damn near every state you go in has different laws and some states have dry counties and cities..guns are another example where states differ on laws that are moral decisions..
I cannot support him unless it is a choice between him and a dim-a-crit
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Anti-Thompson, pro-Huckabee "poetry" from the same Huckabee supporter deleted.
And now a Nazi lame.
Are you familiar with Godwin's Law, Ian? If not, you might want to look it up.
As for why I deleted your two previous replies but let this one stand: It's my blog, Ian. I get to delete what I choose for whatever reasons I choose.
But heck, let me buy you a vowel.
You aimed your first reply NOT at what I'd written but at someone who'd replied, in a manner that to me was simply spam. If you want to play "Nigerian" and solicit funds, that's up to you but take it elsewhere.
Irked when I deleted your first reply, your next attempt was to offer a "poem" that still had nothing to do with the issue (nanny government and "morality police") I'd alluded to. Another blog (another Huckabee supporter I might add) might have praised your drivel as serious <polite cough> "work," but it stunk.
Cred . . . Fred. Jeez gawd, Ian! I laughed my ass off.
If you'd encouraged re-examination of Huckabee simply because of his support of the FairTax, no problem. But ya' know, you did him no favors here. It's techniques like yours that do more harm than anything else to the politicians they THINK they're supporting.
Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving break from school.
Alright, fair enough (although I thought the poem was cute - and informative, regarding the audio link to Hannity's interview with Thompson where he evades the question despite many catcalls from the audience).
Among presidential candidates, Huckabee is, perhaps, the most ardent supporter of the FairTax. While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.
Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos” drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's raison d'etre.
Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it's...
• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards - rather than penalizes - work and productivity
A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy:
For individuals:
• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish
• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions
• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"
• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices by 20%-30%
• Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels
• FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices
• Every household receives a monthly check, or "pre-bate"
• "Prebate" is "advance tax payback" for monthly consumption to poverty level
• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection
• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry
• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates
For businesses:
• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"
• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices
• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S
• No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers
• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes
• Global "free (and equitable) trade" becomes possible for currently-disadvanted U.S. exports
• U.S. exports increase their share of foreign markets
For the country:
• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"
• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie" increases
• No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow
Passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy: Main Street will have to demand that their legislators deliver the bill.
(Thanks, I did enjoy my Thanksgiving, and hope you did, as well.)
Did.
Just so you know ... when it comes to the FairTax, you're preaching to the choir. That was my main -- and possibly sole -- reason for paying attention to Huckabee and his positions on other issues.
His statement -- the one I quoted -- for me is a deal breaker. I've scratched him from consideration.
Why?
The FairTax takes power away from the politicians and lobbyists in DC and returns it to the people, which is where it SHOULD be. But, Huckabee wants to use the Federal government to impose HIS beliefs on the entire country rather than allowing states to decide.
Although he'd like to, my opinion is that he can't have it both ways.
Oh, and just so you know. I'd also like to see repeal of the 17th amendment.
I certainly appreciate where you're coming from. (Ya know, I like Ron Paul, as well, particularly because of his "no non-sense" steadfastness to the limits of the Federal gov't under the Constitution. However I disagree with his isolationist attitude, militarily. And I'm afraid that it could affect our ability to adequately defend the United States by letting rogue gov'ts have the freedom to develop nuclear weapons undeterred.)
Now, Huckabee, though he would like to see abortion "against the law of the entire land" (and, although I haven't always agreed, I appreciate the standard for the reverence of life), he does understand - and forcefully articulate - that we must create a world where unwanted babies can find adequate support and love. What better way to create that possibility than by eliminating the stress and family budget deficit difficulties that federal confiscation of wage-earner paychecks engenders!
For me, the FairTax is everything. The FairTax Act of 2007 (HR 25/ S 1025) represents a prospective power shift of massive proportions in America. It lays out a practical ideal of voluntary payment of taxes, based on a substantial level of taxpayer choice that the plan affords. Since FairTax untaxes basic necessities (up to socially-accepted poverty-level spending), what is taxed is marginal, and/or desired or preferred, on a broader base of retail products and services. This is to say that the taxpayer may, under the FairTax, choose to purchase used products and avoid paying the tax. And, to the extent desired, the taxpayer may choose to self-perform certain services rather than pay for them. This will stimulate do-it-yourself education, improve citizens' self-reliance; indeed the FairTax represents the possibility of ushering in a new can-do, citizen psychology that would accrue to greater demands for government accountability - truly, a social sea change back toward sane restoration of "freeholder" self-identification, as citizens of the several states united.
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