Despite spending months in the single digits of nearly every poll of likely Republican voters in Iowa and being outspent 20 to 1 by former Massachusetts governor and political rival Mitt Romney, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee garnered the support of 34% of the state’s Republicans, securing him a win in the first caucus in the nation. This first place finish certainly brought Huckabee some much desired national attention, but also left millions across the nation with the question, “Who exactly is this guy?” Many are now claiming to have the answer.
While William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, has written that Mike Huckabee could be the GOP’s strongest nominee, many in the conservative movement are questioning Huckabee’s conservative credentials. Phyllis Schlafly has characterized him as the destroyer of the conservative movement in Arkansas, while Rush Limbaugh has called him an instigator of “class warfare.” More recently, in the January 10th South Carolina Republican debate, former Tennessee senator and fellow presidential candidate Fred Thompson described Huckabee as “a Christian leader” who would “bring about liberal economic policies.” According to his opponents, Huckabee is a former tax and spend governor who does not take a tough enough stance on illegal immigration. However, a close examination of his current policy platform and tenure as Arkansas governor will show these assertions to be utterly unfair. Rather, Huckabee is simply trying to remind the “compassionate conservatives” of the Republican Party that the first part of that label is just as important as the second.
Not long after he assumed the governorship of Arkansas in 1996, Huckabee signed the first broad-based tax cut in Arkansas history. This tax cut was valued at $90 million and consisted of a doubling of the standard deduction, an indexing of the state’s tax brackets for inflation, and an elimination of the marriage penalty, the capital gains tax on home sales, and the income tax for those below the poverty line. Huckabee also reduced spending in Arkansas, cutting it by $143 million for the fiscal year 2001 and $160 million for the fiscal year 2002, earning him the “Friend of a Taxpayer” designation by the conservative Americans for Tax Reform group. It is also worth noting that he achieved these tax and spending reductions while the Arkansas Legislature was under Democratic control.
Nevertheless, Huckabee is frequently faulted for raising both the fuel and sales taxes in Arkansas as governor. While Huckabee did sign a bill in April 1999 that raised taxes on gas, this proposal was approved in August of that year by 80% of the state’s voters in a special referendum. This was probably due to the fact that the revenues generated by this tax were used for public works, specifically “for the purpose of constructing and renovating [the state’s] roads and highways,” which were indisputably in disrepair. Even conservatives who advocate the need for limited government acknowledge that government does have a legitimate role to play in the creation and maintenance of public works, which was clearly the aim of this tax increase.
The increase in the sales tax that occurred during his tenure was largely a result of the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that the state had been unfair in its distribution of funding to public schools, directing most of its money to wealthy school districts. So, in order to fund public education adequately, the state was forced to increase spending on education, which unfortunately had to be offset by a tax increase.
It is important to note that Huckabee has vowed not to raise taxes if elected President, signing the Americans for Tax Reform’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” which is something that only two other Republican Presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and Texas Representative Ron Paul, have done. In addition, Huckabee is proposing to eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes, replacing them with a simple consumption tax known as the FairTax. According to this proposal, monthly rebates would be awarded to households for purchases made up to the poverty line, ensuring that basic necessities are not taxed. Thus, productivity, saving, and investment would be encouraged, as Americans are subject to only one tax, which would be on non-essential items that they choose to purchase.
Secondly, Huckabee is unfairly accused by the conservative establishment of having a weak position on illegal immigration. Actually, Huckabee names securing our borders as one of his top priorities and believes that illegal immigrants should return home before being allowed to legally apply for U.S. citizenship. In fact, his proposition that those who have entered this country illegally should be deported is actually to the right of those advocated by two of his political rivals, Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
While governor of Arkansas, however, Huckabee did propose extending one of the state’s merit scholarships for college to the children of illegal immigrants. While many of Huckabee’s opponents decry this plan as a form of amnesty, it is important to note that these children would have still had to earn these scholarships to receive them and would have been held accountable to the same rigorous academic standards as the rest of Arkansas’ children. This proposal illustrates the important idea that children should not be punished for the actions of their parents, which is a sentiment with which most Americans agree. It is certainly a statement that a “compassionate conservative” would agree with as well.
Mike Huckabee is unique in that he is one of the few candidates who acknowledges that Americans are tired of the incessant bickering between factions of the political left and right. As he has famously put it, “I’m a conservative, but I’m not mad at anyone.” Surely this is an attitude that can be appreciated by anyone, especially conservatives, who are sick and tired of politics as usual.
He is a idiot.
I think something about mental illness. His sons are very sick.
Posted by: leila | February 12, 2008 at 07:56 AM