(2003-08-11) Joan Walsh Howard Dean

Joan Walsh's mediocre article on Howard Dean summarizes some of his policy positions. ...a fiscal conservative who put Balanced Budget-s before social spending in Vermont, who opposes federal Gun Control legislation and backs the Death Penalty for certain crimes... But if Dean hadn't been red-baited by the DLC, you might well hear him (at the UFCW debate) as the moderate in the race. He criticized Kucinich and Moseley Braun's call for single-payer universal HealthCare, the left's politically impossible dream, as well as Dick Gephardt's expensive public-private hybrid. John Kerry vied with Dean for the moderate mantle with his relatively modest healthcare plan, but overall Dean came off as the fiscal conservative in the bunch. Amazingly, he got the biggest hand from this union audience when he called George W Bush a "borrow and spend, credit-card Republican" and promised to erase the deficit if he's elected... Someone at the MeetUp lamented his staunch pro-IsRael stance; several people I met said they differed with him on the death penalty.

Transcript of Howard Dean Jul30 speech on the economy: When companies did better, wages rose, and benefits kept pace. A strong Labor Union movement made sure that the factory worker and the sales clerk saw their real incomes rise. At the same time, we created institutions that shared risks. Companies were offered incentives to provide health and pension benefits to their workers. Social Security and Medicare were founded to make sure that no Americans would end their lives in Poverty or lack medical care. We built a strong public education system, and offered training and advancement through loans, grants, and the GI Bill. But then came the election of George W Bush... I will reverse every one of these policies, and I will defend, support and expand the rights of American unions to organize as an essential prerequisite to the prosperity of our nation.

Transcript of Aug5 Afl Cio debate: And what I want to do - I have two priorities in this race - three. First, have a decent foreign policy where we can be respected again in the world. Secondly, to balance the budget by rescinding the Bush Tax Cut-s which have ruined this economy, and to use that money to create jobs and to give health insurance to every single American. And the way my health insurance plan works is very simple: I want something that will pass - I've got something that passed in my state - and that's what we are going to do in the Congress. We are going to use the system we use in Vermont to cover Middle Income and Lower Income workers, everybody under 25. And everybody over 25, if they don't have health insurance, can buy it just the same as your congressman has. And, finally, if a company could give health insurance and it doesn't, then they lose all tax deductibility for senior executive compensation and senior executive benefits... What wealthy Americans should be doing is paying their fair share of the Payroll Tax. Social Security cannot survive on its present track... If you want to protect pensions, the way to do that is to organize.

Arnold Kling is not a fan. Every time I encounter people from Walden Puddle, I find their views baffling. On the one hand, they look at the decentralized, autonomy-preserving, effervescent Internet and say, "It's beautiful. Government should keep its hands off. The people who think that the Internet needs regulation just don't get it." On the other hand, the Walden Puddle contingent will look at the decentralized, autonomy-preserving, effervescent capitalist system and say, "It's Evil. Government has to rein it in. The people who believe that markets are working just don't get it."