Thursday, May 3, 2007

McCain & Giuliani = authoritarian?

Another article on Giuliani, (see 1st article) from a NYC journalist that knows dude for years. Basically Giuliani
1 actually intelligent (unlike W Bush 43), but...

2 maybe as authoritarian as W Bush, based on how he ran NYC dictator-style as mayor

3 extreme loyalty to his crew, like W Bush, meaning as Pres he'll populate the jobs with his career crony NYC hacks, instead of getting experts that he doesn't know personally. The latter approach is what Pres Lincoln did, nominating some cabinet jobs to his main political rivals. The benefit of this approach is the Pres gets real debate & different ideas expressed. OTOH, W Bush 43 gave all the jobs to his & his dad Bush 41's cronies, & then fired those like Colin Powell & Paul O'Neill who actually spoke their mind & didn't d-ride W 100% of the time. It seems that Giuliani will do the same.

GIULIANI CONCLUSION: I am more convinced after reading this 2nd article on Giuliani that he would be a horrible authoritarian President. ABG (Anybody But Giuliani) is in full-effect, tell all your friends, "each one teach one", etc.

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There's an article on McCain from the libertarian Reason magazine, claiming that McCain is authoritarian.

There's some bad evidence here, such that McCain was a poor student, & got jobs & promotions due to the influence of his prominent Navy Admiral father, similar to W Bush 43 got similar "rich yet mediocre elite white guy affirmative action" from his daddy Bush 41.

McCain does seem authoritarian in that he wants to increase the US military's involvement globally, as a "unitary executive" type President who has negligible "checks & balances" from Congress. This is worrisome. However, I don't see any evidence that he'd be for the egregious Constitution-violating actions of W Bush, like warrantlessy wiretapping & torture. McCain actually has advocated against torture. Also, given that he has worked on many projects in his own Senate career with many Democratic Senators like Russ Feingold & John Kerry, I doubt he would just ignore the Senate as the President.

Also, I disagree with Reason's characterizing McCain's campaign finance reform as authoritarian on the ground that it limits free speech. I guess this is the Libertarian view of this issue, which in my view is completely wrong & ignorant of the current American political reality. I don't consider limiting the extremely rich to give large amounts of money to politicians, in exchange for future benefits such as reduced taxes, to be "violating free speech". It's the opposite, the 99.9% of individuals not rich enough to buy off politicians have their interests ignored in that system.

MCCAIN CONCLUSION: If McCain gets the Repub nomination, I will still party like it's 1999, word to Prince. I feel McCain at worst will be a decent President, ala Bush 41. So if it's McCain or ANY of the Democratic candidates that ends up as the eventual winner, I'll be relieved that we have a decent (or better) President that can mostly adhere to the Constitution and act correctly as an elected public servant, not a W Bush styled authoritarian/dictator/Decider

2 comments:

Nancy Tyrrel said...

Elgringo, Good post. Your points are very valid, and like you, right now McCain looks like the safest bet for the country should he win the GOP nomination.

However, that's the rub, winning the nomination. McCain's facing not only a hostile conservative wing but the possible candidacy of Fred Thompson who is getting pretty good numbers considering he hasn't even announced.

Enjoyed your analysis, keep posting.

Fuxie said...

Fuck Giuliani(c) MOP ....