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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Huckabee Bandwagon Headed for Conservative Mediocrity


When I first blogged on Mike Huckabee back in July of this year, I wasn't aware of anyone in conservative circles who had anything bad to say about Huckabee. I was starting to get excited about the prospect of being able to get behind a Christian pro-life candidate.

But when I read that Time Magazine article about Huckabee's view on "law and grace," I saw a serious philosophical problem on Huckabee's part, one that was inconsistent with conservatism and is also inconsistent with a balanced understanding of God's loving but righteous nature.

Since then, more and more voices have been raising these and other concerns, with evidence coming from both the Left and Right.

Jonah Goldberg is the latest, with his column in the LA Times today examining both Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.

I agree with Goldberg about 99% here on both candidates. Ron Paul is pretty consistent on adhering to the Constitution, but his naive stance on foreign policy scares would scare the daylights out of me if I thought he had a chance.

Which brings me to why I seem to be spending some much time talking about Huckabee's liberal tendencies lately: he DOES have a chance.

In a fashion reminiscent of Bill Clinton in 1992 (they even come from the same Arkansas town), Huckabee has come out of almost nowhere to achieve top-tier status. Meanwhile, many conservative Christian leaders and friends have seen the "Christian" and "pro-life" labels and jumped on the Huckabee bandwagon. But I have to believe they didn't look to see what else was in the wagon before they jumped in--that, or they're more interested in the perception of "electability" than principle.

Goldberg catalogues a bit of why some call Huckabee a "pro-life liberal":

What's troubling about The Man From Hope 2.0 is what he represents. Huckabee represents compassionate conservatism on steroids. A devout social conservative on issues such as abortion, school prayer, homosexuality and evolution, Huckabee is a populist on economics, a fad-follower on the environment and an all-around do-gooder who believes that the biblical obligation to do "good works" extends to using government -- and your tax dollars -- to bring us closer to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Goldberg also points out what is wrong with the conservative movement and so many of the Republicans who drive the conservative agenda: they want to adhere to enough conservative ideals to wear the "conservative" label, but want to ditch as much of the "hard" stuff as possible to appeal to the mushy-middle.
As for Huckabee -- as with most politicians, alas -- his personal preferences matter enormously because ultimately they're the only thing that can be relied on to constrain him.

In this respect, Huckabee's philosophy is conventionally liberal, or progressive. What he wants to do with government certainly differs in important respects from what Hillary Clinton would do, but the limits he would place on governmental do-goodery are primarily tactical or practical, not philosophical or constitutional. This isn't to say he -- or Hillary -- is a would-be tyrant, but simply to note that the progressive notion of the state as a loving, caring parent is becoming a bipartisan affair.

Indeed, Huckabee represents the latest attempt to make conservatism more popular by jettisoning the unpopular bits. Contrary to the conventional belief that Republicans need to drop their opposition to abortion, gay marriage and the like in order to be popular, Huckabee understands that the unpopular stuff is the economic libertarianism: free trade and smaller government. That's why we're seeing a rise in economic populism on the right coupled with a culturally conservative populism. Huckabee is the bastard child of Lou Dobbs and Pat Robertson.


I have no doubts about the authenticity of George Bush's Christian testimony. I've seen, heard and read enough to leave me no serious doubt that he's genuinely born-again, and I expect to see him in Heaven someday. President Bush has also done a pretty good job of defending the United States against the threat of Islamic radicals, and has advanced our missile shield defense.

But as far as sticking to Constitutional and conservative principles of limited government, Bush has failed miserably. The reach, size and expenditure of government, which was trending somewhat downward under a Republican congress despite Bill Clinton's presidency, has exploded in the last seven years. The lack of fiscal restraint under his watch has ushered the Republican Party out of power, and has left it and the conservative movement in a confused shambles. George Bush's presidency had high potential for statesmanship and returning our government to it's Constitutional parameters. Instead, except for a few successes, it has been a great disappointment.

And as for Mike Huckabee, I fear and predict that if he were elected president, we would be in for more of the same. We can do better--much better.


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