Yesterday I wrote how, measured by who is backing him, likely candidate Fred Thompson may prove to be a Bush clone if elected president. An article at CNSnews.com today (“Fred Thompson Could Face Fire From the Right”) suggests that, given Thompson’s legislative history, this concern may be warranted, at least on some issues.

Since I am more of an actions than a words guy when it comes to judging candidates, and since I believe that some of the “conservative” critiques mentioned are not so much conservative as they are partisan gripes, I think much of the CNSnews.com article should be ignored, at least in terms of the negatives. But here are some real concerns conservatives should have about Fred Thompson, as listed in the article:

• Illegal Immigration: “[I]n the Senate, Thompson voted in 1998 for a bill that established a temporary farm worker program, similar to the guest worker program supported by Bush.”
• Economic interventionism: “In the Senate, Thompson joined some moderate Republicans in voting to raise the minimum wage in 1996, …”
• Intrusive Government: “…in voting for a “patient’s bill of rights” in 2001 to mandate better coverage by health-care plans…”
• Censored Political Speech: “and in supporting the 2001 Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (McCain -Feingold).”

To this list I would add what at least seems to be a favored foreign policy of foreign interventionism, and no plan or seeming concern to begin drawing down the size and scope of the federal government to make it more in accord with the limits the Founders placed on it through the Constitution.

Thompson, at this point, looks as “electable” as any in the Republican field. But according to conservative principles, would we really gain anything? Or would we be expected to hold our nose with the fleeting promise that we would lose our country at a slower rate than we are now or would under Democratic leadership?

I haven’t voted since 1996 in favor of the “lesser of two evils,” choosing the Constitution Party candidate as a principled protest vote instead. It doesn’t look at this point that I would be convinced to alter this practice in 2008 if Fred Thompson wins the Republican nomination
*****
(Eric Langborgh is the director of development for the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU). His views and comments expressed at the Control Congress blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of the ACRU, unless so specified. His writings can also be found at the Borg Blog)

Posted by Eric Langborgh on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 9:58 am | under 2008 Election | |RSS 2.0 feed | Comments and pings closed. |