Chasing the Wind

I’m waiting for the major media to catch up on the Swift Boat Veteran stories. It’s all over the conservative blogs, and just now starting to reach the liberal blogs. The left needed some time to catch up, and they’re researching the background of the swift boat veterans. That’s a good thing, by the way – doesn’t hurt to check the credibility of your sources. There just happenes to be a lot of veterans behind this “Unfit for Command” book.

I’m amazed and amused we’re focusing on Kerry’s Vietnam war record. When Clinton ran for President the first time, stories were dredged from his past, too. Turns out Clinton was a draft dodger who went to Europe to protest Vietnam, and said at the time he “loathed” the military. When he ran for President, though, he was able to convince people to look past that record. I thought the days of looking back on what politicians did or didn’t do in Vietnam were over.

But then John Kerry decided to run on his record – Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Kerry couldn’t say it enough. And at the Democratic National Convention, he didn’t want to talk about his Senate record, he wanted to talk about Vietnam. Well… ok, John, if you insist. Let’s look at Vietnam. So far, it’s not looking pretty. There’s more to come, but if Kerry would release his medical records, it would answer a lot of the accusations.

In the meantime, while we wait, I want to look at what I think is Bush’s one weakness. No, it’s not the economy, the military, jobs, or terrorism. It’s increased government spending.

I was unable to find any reference that Bush ever ran on the platform of smaller government; I guess I just assumed that to be true. Under Bush, spending in almost all categories has risen significantly (although some liberals suggest that No Child Left Behind was underfunded, it’s still a fact that spending on education has increased a whopping 60.8% under Bush. Bush has made the promise for this election year to limit any future increases, but that’s hardly good news for proponents of limited government.

But Kerry isn’t a solution to the spending, either. Lately, John Kerry has been pining for the fiscal conservative days of Clinton, but Clinton mostly balanced the budget by cutting spending on the miltary while simultaneously having all of his spending initiatives stymied by the “Contract with America” Republicans. Would Kerry cut spending to the military today? That seems foolhardy in today’s terrorist climate, and Kerry has promised an additional $24 billion dollars for military and Homeland Security.

What about cutting domestic spending? Kerry hasn’t offered a solution here, either – if you take all of his campaign promises so far and fund them at the minimum level, it adds up to an incredible $226 billion in 2005. That’s another $1500 per year for every taxpayer.

How does Kerry plan to pay for this? He wants to increase taxes on the rich – those making $200,000 or more per year – while making Bush’s tax cuts for the middle class permanent. The numbers aren’t adding up – according to the Urban Institue, Kerry’s tax plan reduces government revenue by $602 billion over 10 years. In other words, he can’t pay for his spending proposals. He’ll be forced to raise taxes on everybody.

While Bush’s record on limited government isn’t pretty, it’s a whole lot better than Kerry’s proposals.