Here are some issues with the current Republican front-runner candidates that show why Jon Huntsman is a better choice for the 2012 GOP nomination.
Although I voted for Herman Cain when he ran against Johnny Isakson in the Republican primary in 2004, I am not inclined to support him now. In addition to his earlier conspiracy-mongering about Islamic law in America, his "999" plan has a bit of a problem.
84% would pay more under Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan. That's right. 84 percent of Americans would pay more taxes under this plan. And it would burden the poorest Americans to a large degree.
Although many claimed the Bush tax cuts would burden the poor, that's a foolish argument. Nobody's taxes were raised. This, however, would be a tax increase. I don't mind sales taxes in small quantities--I have written in support of Metro Atlanta's proposed regional sales tax to pay for transportation improvements and Fulton County's Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to improve the schools--but a nine percent sales tax on top of state sales taxes would be fairly burdensome.
And as Rick Santorum said, many states lack sales taxes. This scheme would impose a federal sales tax on those states and additionally burden their taxpayers.
Meanwhile, Rick Perry has started pandering toward the Birthers. Thankfully he isn't overtly claiming that Obama wasn't born in the United States, but this interview shows that he's trying to appeal to them. There are reasons to dislike Barack Obama--"Gunwalker" comes to mind--but the claim he was not born in the United States when there are birth announcements for him dating back to the 1960s is absurd. Such people should be ignored, not pandered to.
And here are some reasons not to view Mitt Romney as an authentic conservative, listed in an open letter from Huntsman to New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu. Assuming this is true--and it does ring true, considering Romney's more left-wing record in the past--Romney's a lot less conservative than I had thought.
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I find it amusing how everybody considers Huntsman the "liberal" candidate when he's far more consistently conservative than Romney ever was.
ReplyDeleteOf the big three, I like Cain the most. I'd prefer to see Huntsman or Johnson, but I'm not optimistic.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Huntsman's state-level economic record is a supply-sider's dream. Cut taxes, maintained a budget surplus, and presided over major jobs growth--much of which occurred during the worst of 2008-2009.
ReplyDeleteHuntsman is still doing poorly, but his pandering to New Hampshire by skipping the Nevada debate has won him some support among the legislature there. And he was on the Colbert report. :)
ReplyDeleteRemember, McCain was pretty much dead at one point in the 2008 cycle. Things may change.