FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » Reading List for Moderate Conservatives? (umm.,, not homework?)

   
Author Topic: Reading List for Moderate Conservatives? (umm.,, not homework?)
vwiggin
Member
Member # 926

 - posted      Profile for vwiggin   Email vwiggin         Edit/Delete Post 
This past week's Doonesbury recommended several articles featuring conservative criticism of the president and his policies.

I know Doonesbury is incredibly biased against Bush, so I don't blame you if you tuned out his recommendations. But these articles were not written by partisan hacks.

If you are a moderate conservative voter, I urge you to read these articles before the election.

quote:

1. Dwight Eisenhower's son in the NH Union Leader (link)

2. An analysis of the Iraq war by a Wall Street Journal reporter (scroll down to "WSJ reporter Fassihi's e-mail to friends") (link)

3. "Reagan Republican" Doug Bandow's critique in Salon (link)

4. Rep. Doug Bereuter's letter to his constituents. (link)

5. Lone Star Iconoclast (Crawford, Tx, George Bush's hometown) endorses Kerry (link)

6. Conservative columnist George Will (link)


Here are some highlights:

quote:
Dwight Eisenhower's son in the NH Union Leader (link)

The fact is that today’s “Republican” Party is one with which I am totally unfamiliar. To me, the word “Republican” has always been synonymous with the word “responsibility,” which has meant limiting our governmental obligations to those we can afford in human and financial terms. Today’s whopping budget deficit of some $440 billion does not meet that criterion.

quote:
WSJ reporter Fassihi's e-mail to friends (link)

America's last hope for a quick exit? The Iraqi police and National Guard units we are spending billions of dollars to train. The cops are being murdered by the dozens every day-over 700 to date -- and the insurgents are infiltrating their ranks. The problem is so serious that the U.S. military has allocated $6 million dollars to buy out 30,000 cops they just trained to get rid of them quietly.

As for reconstruction: firstly it's so unsafe for foreigners to operate that almost all projects have come to a halt. After two years, of the $18 billion Congress appropriated for Iraq reconstruction only about $1 billion or so has been spent and a chuck has now been reallocated for improving security, a sign of just how bad things are going here.

Oil dreams? Insurgents disrupt oil flow routinely as a result of sabotage and oil prices have hit record high of $49 a barrel.

Who did this war exactly benefit? Was it worth it? Are we safer because Saddam is holed up and Al Qaeda is running around in Iraq?

quote:
Doug Bandow (special assistant to President Reagan and was a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation) (link)

Quite simply, the president, despite his well-choreographed posturing, does not represent traditional conservatism -- a commitment to individual liberty, limited government, constitutional restraint and fiscal responsibility. Rather, Bush routinely puts power before principle....

Iraq, already in chaos, is no conservative triumph. The endeavor is social engineering on a grand scale, a war of choice launched on erroneous grounds that has turned into a disastrously expensive neocolonial burden.

quote:
Lone Star Iconoclast (Crawford, Tx, George Bush's hometown) endorses Kerry (link)

Kerry has remained true to his vote granting the President the authority to use the threat of war to intimidate Saddam Hussein into allowing weapons inspections. He believes President Bush rushed into war before the inspectors finished their jobs.

Kerry also voted against President Bush’s $87 billion for troop funding because the bill promoted poor policy in Iraq, privileged Halliburton and other corporate friends of the Bush administration to profiteer from the war, and forced debt upon future generations of Americans.

Edited to add: Just kidding a

[ October 24, 2004, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: vwiggin ]

Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Suneun
Member
Member # 3247

 - posted      Profile for Suneun   Email Suneun         Edit/Delete Post 
Can we add Former Michigan Governor, William Milliken's statement? It didn't get much attention when it was posted by Destineer four days ago...
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Xaposert
Member
Member # 1612

 - posted      Profile for Xaposert           Edit/Delete Post 
I don't see how reading only things that would reinforce views you already hold is a good idea for any person, regardless of political preference. The Moderate Conservative reading list should not just include moderate conservative articles, but also liberal, more extreme conservative, libertarian, and other articles.

[ October 23, 2004, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Xaposert ]

Posts: 2432 | Registered: Feb 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
sndrake
Member
Member # 4941

 - posted      Profile for sndrake   Email sndrake         Edit/Delete Post 
I haven't read this book, but I've watched interviews with the author a couple times and have been impressed with his general contempt for both sides of the political divide. It's on my "to read" list:

Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can do About it.

quote:
From Publishers Weekly
For years, Peterson, secretary of commerce under Nixon and author of Gray Down, has been a compelling Cassandra, warning that the mix of growing debt, an aging population, and deficits in Social Security and Medicare portend disaster. Now, he laments, Republicans pursue reckless supply-side economics and Democrats, assuming a repeal of Bush's tax cuts would enable new government spending, are unwilling to consider limits on entitlements. Citing study after study, the author shows that it is a failure of leadership, not knowledge, that has let deficits loom. Beyond that, add the new burdens imposed by September 11—and the fact that European countries, aging like us, likely will have less money for security and international aid. Peterson attacks 10 partisan myths, among them that means-testing federal benefits will shred the safety net; that the elderly are poorer than children, that Americans are overtaxed and that using tax cuts to shrink government can work. What went wrong? He blames interest groups, individualism, short-termitis and generational change. Peterson offers concrete solutions: among them: index Social Security to prices, not wages; use the federal employees' health plan as a model; force Congress to include unfunded retirement obligations in its balance sheet; and pursue more nonpartisan politics, such as free TV time during campaigns. A self-described "fat cat," Peterson is willing to bear an "affluence test" for Social Security; he challenges leaders to revive JFK's call for civic responsibility.

Interesting array of supportive quotes:

quote:
"Pete Peterson articulates with clarity and force a common concern among many of us. Simply put, our fiscal profligacy and growing dependence on foreign savings cannot be sustained." --Paul Volcker, Former Federal Reserve Chairman

"Today, too many of our country's key economic decisions are being made with an eye to the next election rather than to the next generation. This book explains in simple but powerful terms why it's imperative that our attention must be refocused now." --Warren E. Buffett, CEO Berkshire Hathaway

"For anyone who is concerned about the future of their children and grandchildren, Pete Peterson's Running on Empty is required reading. Pete lays out in extraordinary detail how both major political parties have ignored the fiscal juggernaut that is bearing down upon us. His facts are irrefutable; his opinions grounded in those facts. It is a chilling story of what could be a fiscal disaster for this country that we all love." --Senator Warren B. Rudman

"As Peter Peterson, a long and courageous advocate of fiscal responsibility puts it in Running on Empty, "I want to ask every American, young people especially: Is your future better off now than it was four years ago--now that you are saddled with these large new liabilities and the higher taxes that must eventually accompany them?" If that isn't an election issue, I don't know what is." --Thomas J. Friedman, New York Times Columnist

"This book is a clear, realistic, insightful and compelling picture of America's fiscal and economic future. And, unlike most, this book actually proposes solutions. This book deserves to be the intellectual foundation for a movement to put the fuel back in our tank." --Bob Kerrey

"Pete Peterson has performed a great national service with Running on Empty. No one knows better the costly consequences of record deficits for future generations. This is a wake up call we cannot ignore." --Tom Brokaw

"Peter Peterson's book, Running on Empty, provides a clear, concise, and unvarnished look at America's political and fiscal deterioration. Peterson's common sense approach to reform, in order to take on the enormous challenges we face, is a refreshing tack which, sadly, is not often seen when it comes to America's economic situation. His observations about the social, economic, and international implications of our inaction are right on the mark. This book should be required reading for everyone involved in public policy and anyone who cares about America's future." --Senator John McCain

Hmmm...

Maybe the book doesn't belong on this thread. Could be this could be a book for just about anyone not on the "far right" or "far left."

[ October 23, 2004, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: sndrake ]

Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
vwiggin
Member
Member # 926

 - posted      Profile for vwiggin   Email vwiggin         Edit/Delete Post 
"The Moderate Conservative reading list should not just include moderate conservative articles, but also liberal, more extreme conservative, libertarian, and other articles."

I'm just providing articles that I think would persuade moderate conservatives to reexamine their views. But you are right of course. Feel free to add to the list. [Smile]

Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Suneun
Member
Member # 3247

 - posted      Profile for Suneun   Email Suneun         Edit/Delete Post 
Why are there so few responses to this thread? It seems like either people agree with the articles (unlikely), haven't read the articles (seems more likely), or don't feel like posting (also likely). So, why?

Do people think the authors are lying? Exaggerating? Right on?

Are there democrat-turned-Bush-supporting politicians out there? Here's a healthy sample of the opposite, and maybe they're saying something worthwhile.

Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
katharina
Member
Member # 827

 - posted      Profile for katharina   Email katharina         Edit/Delete Post 
The title does make it sound like homework.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
vwiggin
Member
Member # 926

 - posted      Profile for vwiggin   Email vwiggin         Edit/Delete Post 
Hmmm.... good point. [Smile]
Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dagonee
Member
Member # 5818

 - posted      Profile for Dagonee           Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Why are there so few responses to this thread? It seems like either people agree with the articles (unlikely), haven't read the articles (seems more likely), or don't feel like posting (also likely). So, why?
Because there's nothing new here. The George Will article is over a year old, isn't it? The rest don't say anything I haven't seen here on Hatrack. What's to say?

quote:
Do people think the authors are lying? Exaggerating? Right on?
I think they're expressing different political opinions than I hold.

quote:
Are there democrat-turned-Bush-supporting politicians out there? Here's a healthy sample of the opposite, and maybe they're saying something worthwhile.
http://democrats4bush.com/

http://democrats4bush.com/demcomments.shtml

Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2