Posted on 01/05/2015 8:35:31 AM PST by Academiadotorg
Allow me to unite America’s Left, Right, and Center in just three words:
No, Jeb, No!
Former GOP Florida governor Jeb Bush made the obvious official this week when he announced on Facebook and Twitter that he’s “actively exploring” a 2016 White House run.
Of course he’s running. That’s what inveterate politicians do.
Well, I hate to break it to Jeb, Inc. There’s no popular groundswell for Bush Part III. None, zip, nada. Independents, progressives, and conservatives are all weary of the entrenched bipartisan dynasties that rule Washington and ruin America. Only in the hallowed bubble of D.C. and New York City elites does a Jeb Bush presidential bid make any sense.
Jeb’s indulgent (and ultimately doomed) enterprise has three privileged constituencies: Big Business, Big Government, and Big Media. This iron triumvirate explains how the failed campaigns of so-called “pragmatic,” “thoughtful,” and “moooooderate” liberal Republican candidates such as John McCain, Jon Huntsman, and Bob Dole ever got off the ground. The “Reasonable Republican,” anointed and enabled by the statist Big Three, serves as a useful tool for bashing conservatives and marginalizing conservatism.
For Republicans who argue that Jeb is the most “electable” choice, I ask: What planet are you on? After two disastrous terms of Barack Obama’s Hope and Change Theater, the last thing the Republican Party needs is an establishment poster child for Washington business as usual. I mean, really? A third Bush who’s been working for his dad, his dad’s friends, or the government since 1980?
A Beltway-ensconced scion so chummy with the Clinton family that he awarded close family friend – and potential 2016 nemesis — Hillary a “Liberty Medal” last year as chairman of the National Constitution Center?
That’s the GOP donor bigwigs’ “fresh idea” for “American Renewal?”
To blunt criticism from the grass-roots base on the Right, Jeb’s cheerleaders at the Wall Street Journal cite his “conservative” gubernatorial record of cutting taxes and privatizing jobs. So we’re supposed to swoon when a GOP governor acts like he’s supposed to act on standard, bread-and-butter GOP issues? Whoop-de-doo.
One thing Jeb’s promoters won’t be emphasizing: Over the course of his eight years in the Florida governor’s mansion, government spending skyrocketed. The libertarian Cato Institute notes that Florida general fund spending “increased from $18.0 billion to $28.2 billion during those eight years, or 57 percent” and that “[t]otal state spending increased from $45.6 billion to $66.1 billion, or 45 percent.”
Like big-spending father, like big-spending big brother, like big-spending second son and lil’ brother.
I have another interpretation of Bush’s “conservative” Florida years: It’s called biding his time. Yes, Jeb put in his obligatorily GOP service on taxes and the Second Amendment. Not because he was wedded to deep-rooted principles, mind you. But because the “conservative” façade will come in handy during the primaries when he has to defend radical, divisive positions on his two defining national policy issues: Education and immigration.
Jeb Bush’s agenda is neither Left nor Right. His agenda is the agenda of the D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Remember: The chamber is a politically entrenched synod of bipartisan special interests. As I’ve said before, these fat cats do not represent the best interests of American entrepreneurs, American workers, American parents and students, or Americans of any race, class or age who believe in low taxes and limited government.
The chamber’s business is the big business of the Beltway, not the business of mainstream America. And so is Jeb Bush’s.
The Chamber supports mass amnesty for cheap, illegal alien workers. Jeb Bush supports mass legalization of cheap, illegal alien workers and accuses those of us who oppose it on constitutional, sovereignty, security, and fairness grounds of lacking “compassion.”
The Chamber supports the top-down, privacy-undermining, local autonomy-sabotaging Common Core racket. Jeb Bush spearheaded and profited from Common Core – and accuses those of us who oppose it of opposing academic excellence for our own children. Jeb’s problem isn’t just Common Core. It’s that he has no core. Instead of retreating from the costly federalized scheme that has alienated teachers, administrators, and parents of all backgrounds, Bush has doubled down with his Fed Ed control freak allies and corporate donors.
The reign of Obama ushered in massive cronyism, corporate favoritism, and Boomtown boondoggles galore. We’ve lived too long already under the boot of arrogant D.C. bureaucrats who’ve exploited their power to serve their friends.
No more business as usual: Stop Jeb Bush.
Jeb wants a name change....Mexican Chamber of Commerce.
Among the many in the GOPe ranks.
to paraphrase Pat Buchanan, the Business Roundtable has many bellhops
Without spending cuts there are no true tax cuts - only tax postponements/shifts.
I used to think the COC was conservative AND Republican...
When did the COC sell out to the left?
The Chamber of Commerce is 100 percent crony capitalist ... which is another term for fascist ... and fascists are every bit as socialist as their communist enemies.
” The Chamber of Commerce is 100 percent crony capitalist ... which is another term for fascist ... and fascists are every bit as socialist as their communist enemies. “
YOU NAILED it!
Ignorance is a dangerous thing.....I thought for years the COC was conservative.
I think I’m just venting here, but...
The local COC President is a guy I’ve known and worked on a few things with over the last 3 years. He’s nice.
But my Village has decided to not join the COC and this Nice Guy keeps pushing his way into our stuff, and presenting things as if HE and the COC are responsible for things, or in charge of things...
Even local concerns over flooding and the POS NY Rising program are within the purview of Nice Guy; he involves himself in things that are of no personal matter to him - he doesn’t even live here - but in a posh town north of here - (and he got his posh home for $45,000 - just a BIT under market).
Nice Guy seems to have laser focus on my little village and it irritates the hell out of me. We are a very Conservative village - is that the reason?
I do wish the Mayor would tell Nice Guy to step off, but Mayor doesn’t like to make waves. Also a nice guy, but 14 years of Mayor’s reign has not been good for us.
Ok, rant over, thanks for the space.
You go, girl. Hit it out of da park.
[ ” The Chamber of Commerce is 100 percent crony capitalist ... which is another term for fascist ... and fascists are every bit as socialist as their communist enemies. “
YOU NAILED it!
]
Damned right they NAILED IT, ANYONE who uses ANY SYSTEM of Government to manipulate the markets to their OWN advantage is Damned Fascist/Socialist/Communist, the only difference in the end is HOW they SELL it to the “Useless eaters/idiots”
[ Ignorance is a dangerous thing.....I thought for years the COC was conservative. ]
They couch their Socialism in mockery of “Fiscal Conservatism”. Much like how Libs couch their Socialism in “Social Justice”.
14 years?
No more Yale....no more Harvard.If we closed both universities, Americans would be much safer.
“There’s no popular groundswell for Bush Part III. None, zip, nada.”
There’s the quote of the month.
You got that right, stop Jeb Bush. Who even wants that tool other than the MSM hacks and the Democrat Party? I wish his wife’s people would just convince Jeb to move to Mexico and go into politics down there.
I don’t know. I liked the one about how since 1982 (when he was 27), he’s either worked for his dad, his dad’s friends or the government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.