Tag Archives: Centrist

News

Is Newt Gingrich conservative or liberal?

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From the Wall Street Journal. (H/T Reason to Stand)

Excerpt:

White House hopeful Newt Gingrich called the House Republican plan for Medicare “right-wing social engineering,” injecting a discordant GOP voice into the party’s efforts to reshape both entitlements and the broader budget debate.

In the same interview on Sunday, Mr. Gingrich backed a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, complicating a Republican line of attack on President Barack Obama’s health law.

The former House speaker’s decision to stick with his previous support for an individual mandate comes days after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defended the health revamp he championed as governor, which includes a mandate.

The moves suggest the Republican primary contest, which will include both men, could feature a robust debate on health care, with GOP candidates challenging the Democratic law while defending their own variations.

Consider this article from the conservative National Review. (H/T Michelle Malkin)

Excerpt:

Newt Gingrich’s appearance on “Meet the Press” today could leave some wondering which party’s nomination he is running for. The former speaker had some harsh words for Paul Ryan’s (and by extension, nearly every House Republican’s) plan to reform Medicare, calling it “radical.”

“I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering,” he said when asked about Ryan’s plan to transition to a “premium support” model for Medicare. “I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.”

As far as an alternative, Gingrich trotted out the same appeal employed by Obama/Reid/Pelosi — for a “national conversation” on how to “improve” Medicare, and promised to eliminate ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ etc.

More from the leftist New York Times.

Excerpt:

For Ms. Clinton, standing side by side with her husband’s onetime nemesis gives her the chance to burnish her credentials among the moderates she has been courting during her time in the Senate.

But in comments this week, she portrayed the rapprochement as one born of shared policy interests, not calculated politics.

“I know it’s a bit of an odd-fellow, or odd-woman, mix,” she said. “But the speaker and I have been talking about health care and national security now for several years, and I find that he and I have a lot in common in the way we see the problem.”

For his part, Mr. Gingrich, who helped lead the impeachment fight against President Bill Clinton, called Mrs. Clinton “very practical” and “very smart and very hard working,” adding, “I have been very struck working with her.”

Maybe he is actually running to win the Democrat nomination this time.

News

What economic policies do left-wing and right-wing economists agree on?

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This article is from Harvard economist Greg Mankiw. (H/T Michael)

Excerpt:

Here is the list, together with the percentage of economists who agree:

  1. A ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available. (93%)
  2. Tariffs and import quotas usually reduce general economic welfare. (93%)
  3. Flexible and floating exchange rates offer an effective international monetary arrangement. (90%)
  4. Fiscal policy (e.g., tax cut and/or government expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative impact on a less than fully employed economy. (90%)
  5. The United States should not restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries. (90%)
  6. The United States should eliminate agricultural subsidies. (85%)
  7. Local and state governments should eliminate subsidies to professional sports franchises. (85%)
  8. If the federal budget is to be balanced, it should be done over the business cycle rather than yearly. (85%)
  9. The gap between Social Security funds and expenditures will become unsustainably large within the next fifty years if current policies remain unchanged. (85%)
  10. Cash payments increase the welfare of recipients to a greater degree than do transfers-in-kind of equal cash value. (84%)
  11. A large federal budget deficit has an adverse effect on the economy. (83%)
  12. A minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. (79%)
  13. The government should restructure the welfare system along the lines of a “negative income tax.” (79%)
  14. Effluent taxes and marketable pollution permits represent a better approach to pollution control than imposition of pollution ceilings. (78%)

I wonder which political party believes in most or all of these positions?

Hmmmmn.

News

New poll finds Canadians becoming more conservative and libertarian

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Political Map of Canada

Story here in the Globe and Mail.

Excerpt:

A survey by Allan Gregg of Harris-Decima and Carleton University’s Professor André Turcotte concludes that while a majority of Canadians identify with the “centre” position on the political ideology scale, this centre is increasingly embracing “traditionally conservative values.”

The poll says a plurality – or 47 per cent – of those respondents who consider themselves political “centrists” voted for the Conservatives in 2008. By comparison, back in 1997, 41 per cent of those self-identified as centrists voted Liberal.

“What is most surprising about these results is how mainstream conservative the political centre has become,” Mr. Turcotte said.

The survey found a majority of Canadians strongly agreed with traditionally conservative value statements on the morality of abortion, the definition of marriage as “between a man and a woman” and the supremacy of the family.

And:

Separately, the polling identified significant support for Tory government’s handling of issues like the long-gun registry and global warming.

The poll says six in 10 respondents back the Harper government’s decision to abolish the long-gun registry. It found half of respondents back the Tory go-slow approach to fighting climate change. And six in 10 said the Conservative government is doing “just enough” to deal with the economic recession.

Mr. Turcotte said Canadians also appear to be losing confidence in government ability’s to use social engineering to fix economic inequality in Canada.

Only 31 per cent of respondents felt government action is the best way to solve economic problems.

You can read a nice comparison of the US and Canadian economies from the libertarian Cato Institute.

I know I have a fair number of Canadian readers, especially the regular ones from Winkler, Morden, Coquitlam and Calgary (yes, I saw you all in the live traffic feed – why don’t you e-mail me ever? I’m not going bite you!). Please leave me a comment about where the best place to live is in Canada, in case I ever have to move there at some point to find a job.