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Strategic voting in 2004
Wilson Freeman
A Freeman's Perspective
George W. Bush must be voted out of office by anyone who even cares one smidgen for the importance of limited government. Bush is conservative, undoubtedly, but not conservative like Ronald Reagan or like many of the Republicans who generated the upheaval that was the Contract with America in 1994. Under the administration of Ronald Reagan, domestic discretionary spending only grew by 1.3 percent. Under George W. Bush, it has grown over 8 percent; this is not including the wide growth in defense spending. There is no discipline in this administration, and no reason to trust Bush’s promise in his State of the Union speech that he would keep spending down.
That is why all good fiscal conservatives, be they Republican or be they libertarian, should find themselves pulling the lever for a Democrat in November. It’s true that the election is some distance away, and a lot can change before then – but one thing is certain not to change, and that is what the Bush administration has already done. We cannot forget this and allow our vision to be clouded by the murky election-year messages. However, do not confuse this endorsement of the Democratic candidate as an endorsement of the politics of the Democrats, or a belief that the Democrats have become the party of limited government. On the contrary, the very message that Democratic candidates have been pitching is one of even more government than the Bush administration has created. This may cause the proponents of limited government to choose the “lesser of two evils” and vote for the Bush administration. However, I would caution strongly against that vote. Now is the time, more than ever, for strategic voting.
If I had any reason to believe that Kerry, the current Democratic frontrunner, would be able to enact any of the policies he is promising his supporters, I would never vote for him. However, gerrymandering after the 2000 census makes it incredibly unlikely that the Republicans will lose control of the House for some time. The Senate is also not projected to change to Democratic control. Given that, voting for the Democratic presidential candidate is not a vote for the policies John Kerry or for Howard Dean, but rather a vote for divided government. A Republican congress is logically far more likely to oppose the spending policies of a Democratic president than they are to oppose the policies of a ‘Republican’ like George Bush. Hopefully, this will lead to legislative deadlock, and the failure to be able to enact any new massive spending increases.
A united Republican government under the “leadership” of George W. Bush is the greatest danger for anyone concerned with maintaining minimal government. Entitlement spending has only grown under this president, who has recently proposed to expand funding for the NEA – the poster child for wasteful government spending. Also, let us not forget the enormously expensive plan to land on Mars with taxpayer dollars. While these pale in comparison to the spending proposals being made by the Democratic candidates in today’s primaries, I would remind people that much of it is rhetoric designed to win over the far left. Whoever should win will move back to the center when the real election comes around. If they should then win the election in November, divided government and the public will keep them in check – as they did Bill Clinton, under whom spending growth was kept as low as two percent (which is an interesting contrast next to the supposedly “more conservative” current president).
In addition, anyone who is concerned with civil freedoms have to look no further than Bush’s declaration in the State of the Union that he will try to renew the Patriot Act for a reason to vote against him. Even a cursory reading of this act reveals that it revokes and tramples upon what we considered to be basic freedoms merely five years ago. The actions of the Case ACLU branch have been dedicated to spreading that information across this campus. I hope that we got the message – allowing the government powers such as those that are granted in the Patriot Act, regardless of the good intentions, is an incredibly dangerous step. We cannot underestimate the impact of laws like this, or one day we may wake up and find that we have no freedoms at all. The deadlock created by divided government would prevent the Patriot act from being renewed.
A vote for the Democratic candidate is a strategic one, and not necessarily an endorsement of the virtual socialism that some of them are pitching in the primaries. Divided government will keep the spending growth in check, but most importantly, it will send a message to the Republican party. If traditional Republican voters such as libertarians, who truly value limited government, defect from the party in the coming presidential election, then the potential consequences of four years of Democratic leadership will be far outweighed by the benefits of turning the Republican party back into the party of limited government. For these reasons, it appears clear to me that now should be the year that some former Republican stalwarts pull the Democratic lever for the first time.
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Vonnegut entertains Case
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Adelbert Road bridge to be replaced in 2005, construction continues
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City Club extends forums to students
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Jan Hopkins speaks of experience at CNN, Citibank
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Knowledge lecture series begins
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Federal judge rules Microsoft violated patents on software
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Congress may pass laws, dropping pell grant funds
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Greek Update
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The Brief Case
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Finnigan Fields construction moves slowly but surely
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Pats win second Super Bowl in three years, 32-29
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Home Shopping poor replacement for sports
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Editorial
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Strategic voting in 2004
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Letters to the Editor
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Where has all the folk music gone?
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Simon's Dinner Party leaves audience hungry
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Miracle: Adrenaline pumping, Communist-friendly fun
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Side Trax
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