Freedom in the Bluegrass
columnist: Josh Koch

Topic: Election 2008
McCain: Yes, No, and Maybe

---

Senator McCain is all over the map on everything. I'll try to make sense of his Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde platform.

---

by Josh Koch
(libertarian)
Monday, June 30, 2008

McCain's problem is his misguided perspective of Americana. He's not running for the 2008 presidency. Rather, he seems to think that he's running in 1968, with some of the labels updated. The comedic elements come in when he goes all ham-fisted on minor and irrelevant issues, while waffling and taking the wrong stands on the major issues. Why did John McCain go to Selma? It comes across as dated and almost as silly as Jack Kemp's braggadocio about his NFL shower companions.

The Senator's problem is not just a cosmetic issue. Take, for instance, his conversion to the global warming scam. Forget ISO 9000 and Six Sigma, this guy wants the stamp of approval from green-leaning neocons and liberals. Viewing this from a Machiavellian, inside-the-beltway perspective, this is a perfect issue. From outside the beltway and the blue states, though, this is incredibly insensitive and out of touch. Consider this:

John McCain Proposes A Cap-And-Trade System That Would Set Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions While Encouraging The Development Of Low-Cost Compliance Options. A climate cap-and-trade mechanism would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allow entities to buy and sell rights to emit, similar to the successful acid rain trading program of the early 1990s. The key feature of this mechanism is that it allows the market to decide and encourage the lowest-cost compliance options. (Source)

Sure, it sounds good to the greenies, but what will it mean to Joe Sixpack and Susie Homemaker who run a small business? Additional fees and regulations don't help the big corporations, but they are absolutely prohibitive to small businesses. That's one of the reasons that Reagan conservatism's call for less regulation and interference resonated with American small business. What's a liberal running as a conservative running as a liberal to do?

John McCain's schizophrenic campaign realizes this awkwardness, so it jumps in the opposite direction when it comes to economic policy:

John McCain Will End Policies That Contribute To Higher Transportation And Food Costs. Ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas drive up food prices and hurt Americans. However, we cannot take the wrong direction and cut off trade for American goods.

*****

John McCain Will Improve Business Investment Incentives. John McCain proposes to permit corporations to immediately deduct the cost of equipment investment, providing a valuable pro-growth investment incentive. Expensing of equipment and technology will provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting-edge technologies. (Source)

So, let me see if I have this right: we're going to increase carbon taxes and cut taxes because increased taxes will force people to use alternative energy sources and reduced taxes will help business? It would be nice to see some consistency, but all we are given is confusion and muddled thinking.

Now, did you note that Senator McCain bashed ethanol subsides as destructive? He's right, but this is where "issue schizophrenia" grabs the wheel once again:

John McCain Will Commit $2 Billion Annually To Advancing Clean Coal Technologies. Coal produces the majority of our electricity today. Some believe that marketing viable clean coal technologies could be over 15 years away. John McCain believes that this is too long to wait, and we need to commit significant federal resources to the science, research and development that advance this critical technology.

*****

John McCain Will Propose A $300 Million Prize To Improve Battery Technology For Full Commercial Development Of Plug-In Hybrid And Fully Electric Automobiles. A $300 million prize should be awarded for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. That battery should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs. At $300 million, the prize is one dollar for every man, woman and child in this country - and a small price to pay for breaking our dependence on oil.

*****

John McCain Will Encourage The Market For Alternative, Low Carbon Fuels Such As Wind, Hydro And Solar Power. According to the Department of Energy, wind could provide as much as one-fifth of electricity by 2030. The U.S. solar energy industry continued its double-digit annual growth rate in 2006. To develop these and other sources of renewable energy will require that we rationalize the current patchwork of temporary tax credits that provide commercial feasibility. John McCain believes in an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until the market transforms sufficiently to the point where renewable energy no longer merits the taxpayers' dollars. (Source)

So...government subsidies are merely going to be realigned under a McCain administration? Do market forces and consumer demand get a seat at the table? Apparently not. I fail to see where that reduces the spending, regulation, and burden on businesses, taxpayers, and consumers.

In 2004, John Kerry was defeated because he had a lack of moral courage on many major issues. He would wander back and forth on major issues, but, say what you will about him, he always had one position on any major issue at any given point.

John McCain's platform literally self-conflicts on all major issues at all times. It's like a Siamese twin of conservatism and liberalism. Once you get beyond the bumper stickers and talking points, the confusion at McCain HQ is eye-popping. He's against the war, but supports it for 100 years, unless we can have "peace with honor," in which case we'll pull out tomorrow at noon.  He's against income and corporate taxes, unless they're branded for global warming, in which case he'd like a lot more of them. He wants to reduce regulation, but he wants to create a whole new bureaucracy to regulate carbon emissions.

McCain's moment of strength in 2000 came from running a populist message. In the face of $4/gallon gasoline, which should be a great issue for him, he's completely dropped the ball. He meekly calls for a temporary gas tax holiday over a summer that is already half over. He tells us that he'll stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That sounds great, but none of it is a long-term solution, and none of it can be delivered by him before oil hits $170 a barrel in six months. There's not a word on the root cause of the problem, the collapse of the dollar.

How will this election cycle end? I don't know. I do know, though, that concerned citizens would do well to read the reams of fine print on Senator McCain before taking him at face value. Senator McCain is running a "say whatever it takes to get elected strategy," but anyone who takes the time to sift through his self-contradicting position statements will discover enough myth, legend, assumptions, and incoherent rambling to last a political lifetime.

I'm sure that some political hack in the RNC thinks this is a great step for centrism, but all it does is convince me that McCain is truly a mentally unstable man or he's a Machiavellian manipulator who has no hesitation to lie to the American public on any number of issues. At the end of the day, though, I must assume that John McCain doesn't know what's wrong with America, much less the world. If the man doesn't know anything about the economy by his own admission, why would we ever consider giving such a confused individual the keys to this great nation?

Did you like this article?
If you did, Thumb It!
10 thumbs so far

©2008 Josh Koch, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Monday, June 30, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Josh Koch only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Josh Koch is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

Report violation by Josh Koch of Nolan Chart LLC's terms of use policy.