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I Hate To Ask The Question, But
Does Dubya Stand For Wimp ?
by Randy Barker (8-20-01)

Granted, George W. Bush is light-years better than Al Gore would have been in the job, and better than anyone the Democrats will field in 2004, but there have been decisions during George W. Bush's first months in office that make an actual conservative worried about what Dubya isn't going to stand up for next.

Far from being the Far Right Wing ideologue Democrats like to label him, Bush II is only slightly to the right of his moderate Country Club Republican father. Even worse, George W. is showing signs of making unprincipled Clintonian political decisions and exhibiting a liberal disregard for solemn pledges, something made famous by his father. Bush Senior's knuckling under to a deceitful Democrat Congress and reversing his "Read My Lips, No New Taxes" pledge caused me to refuse to vote for him.  I expected that George W.
would have learned something.

My dissatisfaction is not due to Dubya's recent decision on embryonic stem cell research. That was acceptable. I view using stem cells from already dead embryos like using organs from already dead adults. Something good coming from a bad situation. But it wasn't a totally principled decision. It rewards researchers for destroying embryos for research, something that was illegal to be federally funded until Bill Clinton signed a questionable executive order and circumvented federal law. Just another land mine left for Bush by Slick Willy, similar to his last-minute arsenic in drinking water edict. The problem with Bush's decision is that giving an inch to people who don't worry
about ethics leads them to demand a mile.

It could very well be that embryonic stem cell research may not be necessary. Advances are being made with adult stem cells and stem cells from umbilical cords and placentas. We need to proceed with caution here. Not so long ago, scientists were clamoring for federal money for fetal tissue research like they are for stem cell research now. It was going to allow wondrous advances. It has not lived up to the hype.

And who says the government has to fund everything? The lack of taxpayer money doesn't doom cures for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease as some are asserting.  Stem cell researchers have big bucks and can exist without our money. The mapping of the human genome was done by both the governmental National Institutes of Health, and the private $1.7 billion Celera Genomics Corporation (CRA). The private company completed the project faster.

No, my disappointment with Bush is not about stem cells. It's about not standing up for what's right. Not using the "bully pulpit". Not fighting. Things like his Clintonesque desertion of female nominees. He left Linda Chavez out on a limb and has not done a recess appointment of Mary Gall as head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, as he should have, after she was unjustly rejected by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. He has let Ted Kennedy take over his Education Initiative and eliminate vouchers. He hasn't rescued Klamath River farmers from environmental nuttiness. I fear he will
sign liberal versions of the patient's bill of rights legislation, and a
watered down version of his energy bill. He caved on the Navy's practice bombing of Vieques Island. He wants to give amnesty to illegal aliens. He paid Red China $34,000 for housing our hostages on Hainan Island.  He's actually thinking about offering an alternative to the stupid Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. And worst of all, he decided last Friday to support racial set-asides for government contracts in the Adarand vs. Slater case where the white-owned, low-bidder company lost a contract to a Hispanic firm simply because of race. And he's having John Ashcroft send Ted Olson to argue the
point before the Supreme Court! What worse betrayal of a campaign pledge and basic principle could there be? To support "affirmative action" and use actual racial bias to remedy alleged racial bias is patently wrong, destructive to race relations and hopefully one day to be finally ruled unconstitutional in all its forms. Equal opportunity does not mean equal results. My favorite candidate in last year's presidential primary, Alan Keyes, would not have made such an immoral, pandering, political decision. Linda Chavez, the Hispanic president of the Center for Equal Opportunity called it "horrendous policy". It's also a futile gesture. The Hispanics and Blacks who Bush hopes to appease will not vote for him regardless of what he does.

All this makes me very concerned. Where will Dubya wimp out next ?
Ronald Reagan has an aircraft carrier named for him. The way it's going now, George W. Bush may have a national park in Kentucky renamed for him. The national park now called Mammoth Cave.

Excerpt from NotSo SERIOUS MONEY,
a weekly online financial newsletter written by
randybarker@aol.com