WHY I AM A FREDHEAD
The summary below is excerpted from a hostile source but I still like what I hear:
Thompson, who is expected to enter the presidential race formally in
September, but plans to campaign in Iowa on Friday, was not known as a
big-ideas guy and was hardly a heavy-hitter when it came to legislation
during his Senate career from 1994 to 2002. Still, he was considered a
reliably conservative vote on economic, security and social issues
alike. He backed Bush’s tax cuts, a prohibition on a late-term abortion
procedure and voted to give the president the authority to invade Iraq.
More prominently, he established a reputation for working to limit
the role of the federal government and protect states rights - an issue
that remains very important to him and, perhaps, is an indication of
what may lie at the root of his candidacy.
Broadly, he favors a strong federalist approach that emphasizes
personal liberties and fiscal conservatism. “Centralized government is
not the solution to all of our problems and, with too much power, such
centralization has a way of compounding our problems,” Thompson wrote
in a recent column on his Web site. “This was among the great insights
of 1787,” when the Constitution was adopted, “and it is just as vital
in 2007.” He adds: “How we draw the line between federal and state
roles in this century, and how we stay true to the principles of
federalism for the purpose of protecting economic and individual
freedom, are questions we must answer.”
Thompson also:
* Splits with Bush on immigration, opposing the president’s
comprehensive immigration law overhaul bill and, instead, argues for
increased border security as well as full enforcement of current
federal immigration laws. The issue has divided the GOP, and Thompson
is seeking the support of Republicans who object to illegal immigrants
getting a path to U.S. citizenship. In one online column, he says:
“Federal law must be enforced, or our neighborhoods will continue to be
the scene of chilling and lurid crimes committed by those who broke the
law in the first place to come to America.”
* Appears to take a hard-line approach to foreign policy. He
criticizes the United Nations, saying the world body “seems to oppose
human freedom rather than promote it.” And, in one particularly
incendiary commentary for ABC radio in April, he carried on about the
perception of the U.S. around the world and its relationships with
certain countries. He assails Mexico on immigration, arguing that
leaders there “apparently have an economic policy based on exporting
their own citizens while complaining about U.S. immigration policies
that are far less exclusionary than their own.” He adds: “The French
jail perfectly nice people for politically incorrect comments, but
scold us for holding terrorists at Guantanamo.” Thompson saves his most
aggressive comments for Russia, contending that ex-KGB agents
“apparently” run the country, use their oil wealth to engage in
blackmail, and dispose of people who cross them. “Oppose the Russian
leadership, and you could trip and fall off a tall building or stumble
into the path of a bullet.”
* Emphasizes individuals’ right to keep and bear arms, as well as
the right to own and keep property. He suggests in one online piece
that the Virginia Tech massacre could have been deterred had those who
were at least age 21 and met certain criteria been allowed to carry
concealed weapons on school grounds. In the Senate, Thompson voted
against requiring criminal background checks for purchases at gun
shows.
* In a recent commentary, he assailed a 2005 Supreme Court decision
giving local governments broad power to seize private property to
generate tax revenue.
* Calls Bush’s tax cuts a “success story” that helped grow the
economy and says: “Letting them expire would amount to a tax hike of
historic proportions.” He also says the president should hold the line
on spending.
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