"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."


Friday, January 25, 2008

The Stimulus Package

Good conservative that I am, I get nervous when the federal government spurs itself into action to stimulate a slowing economy, as is the case now.

With that said, the recent plan agreed to by Congressional Democrats, Republicans, and the White House seems entirely palatable. It is not a silver bullet that will rescue the economy from recession if recession there will be, but at best it will give a little shot in the arm to an economy that has been staggered by a floundering housing market and at worst it will have no effect positively or, most importantly, negatively on the overall performance of the economy. It might also have the benefit of easing public fear a little bit, lest fear of recession become self-fulfilling prophecy.

Assuming the plan makes it out of the Senate and conference predominantly in its current form—possibly an audacious assumption given a senators’ general taste for including his or her own pet projects in any and every piece of legislation—this stimulus is worthy of support. As Irwin M. Stelzer writes, "The proposed stimulus is not large enough to cause any real harm, and just might help the economy right itself...The plan that is taking final shape will not add to the structural budget; it will target the right people, and get the cash to them quickly, and it will be temporary." That is exactly the criterion that this and any stimulus in these circumstances must meet.

Finally, if for nothing else, this stimulus will return tax dollars to the American people from whom they originally came. There is never anything wrong with that.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

RE: 'McMentum vs Huckmentum'

Mark Steyn:

A McCain victory in SC has to be good news for Giuliani because the narrative becomes "Stop McCain!" and Rudy's best poised to do that - not just because his numbers in Florida haven't yet collapsed to the same undetectable levels as they have everywhere else, but because Huck and Mitt and Fred will be fairly proven failures at the "Stop McCain" game. So, if stopping him's your priority, then Rudy's the one-stop shop after everyone's stopped shopping around. He'll be the last ABM (Anyone-But-McCain) in with a shot.

A Huck victory in SC, by contrast, keeps the other fellows alive, which makes it more likely that the attrition in Rudy numbers will continue.

But Mark's right. If Rudy wins in Florida, those of us who said he can't recover from sitting out the first month will have to acknowledge that he's a towering genius who cannily foresaw that leaving the early states to be squabbled over by weak and divisive candidates would render their victories irrelevant and leave him to stroll on in the Second Act and take the throne as king on a field of corpses.*

(*I assume there's an internal memo somewhere that lays it out like that.)



My E-Mailed Response:

Mr. Steyn:

Just read your 'McMentum vs. Huckmentum' post on the Corner and I say I have to disagree totally with your assertion that Mayor Giuliani will be the one conservatives might coalesce around to stop Sen. McCain in Florida should he win this evening in South Carolina. I don't find any logic in Mayor Giuliani being that person. Presumably those who wish to stop Sen. McCain do so because of his inconsistent or maverick Conservatism. Why then would they coalesce around Mayor Giuliani, whose conservatism is also, to put it kindly, inconsistent?

No I believe that it is the most viable candidate of traditional conservative dispositions who conservatives would flock to to beat Sen. McCain, probably Gov. Romney (though his conservatism by no means has not been put into question during this campaign).