Sunday, October 26, 2008

Does John McCain Still Want to Be President?

In John McCain’s History, we see a war hero who has devoted his career to serving the American people in the United States Congress. His efforts at following conscience over the dictates of political convenience have been respected in both political parties.

The Three Cornerstones of Senator McCain's Politics have been reform and deregulation and war.

As Regards Reform, he sponsored 2002’s McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act. He speaks firmly now in favor of regulating the greed that has taken the American economy to the brink of disaster. Senator McCain’s commitment to reform in Congress is clear.

But Has It Made Any Difference?

As Regards War, Senator McCain believes strongly in the conduct of the War in Iraq. He has supported the current president unwaveringly, saying that he would rather lose the presidency in order to win a war, than win the presidency and lose the war. Some people believe that the senator's commitment to the War in Iraq reflects a desire to re-fight the Vietnam War—and win this time. No more "domino effect," leading the Communist Chinese and Vietnamese hordes to make beach-landing attacks on our Pacific shores.

Not Like Last Time...

But on the Deregulation Front, it is the Republican Party’s relentless pursuit of deregulations that has led us to the current financial crisis.

The Result of Deregulation Is the Current Economic Fiasco. 1999’s Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, which removed the Depression-era safeguards of 1933’s Glass-Steagall Act, was the precipitate cause of what we face today. (This act was sponsored by the same Phil Gramm who until recently was the senior economic advisor of the McCain campaign.)

More-Recently, the Demise of the Entire Republican Economic Premise was acknowledged by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. "Shocked disbelief" is how Mr. Greenspan put it, admitting that the underlying basis of Republican economic theory is as bankrupt as the nation on which the theory has been tested.

If John McCain’s Primary Focus as a Senator has been to move toward deregulation—as he has reiterated countless times during the lengthy presidential campaign—and it is the abject failure of such deregulations that has caused the current financial meltdown, what is left for John McCain to do?

Net Result: No Effective Reform, No Win in Iraq, an Economy in Crisis.

So What Would John McCain Do if he were elected as President? What more would he deregulate? What new wars would he choose to fight?

Does John McCain Really Still Want to Be President?

If So, Why?






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