“One Little Hour”

It was not my intention to have four of my first five posts focus on politics, but I guess it is the reason for the season. I decided to do some research and write a post on the question of McCain’s conservatism because one of my friends, actually the bestman in my upcoming wedding, wrote, “McCain isn’t a conservative. Save one or two issues, McCain just ain’t no friend of conservatives.” Vernacular aside, the question raised is pertinent. I always thought since 2000 that McCain was a “moderate,” though I hadn’t thoroughly researched McCain’s stance on issues beyond his support of immigration.

My friend’s case was built on a paucity of evidence. My impressions of McCain had been similar to his, but I had no hard data backing up my feelings. So, I just spent the last several hours reading up on his voting record and his public support for a host of issues. My conclusion is simple: McCain is a conservative.

Let me start by outlining his clearly conservative and libertarian positions.

1) Abortion: McCain voted for the Partial Birth Abortion ban and the Unborn Victims of Violence act, which called for the murder of a pregnant woman to be tried as two killings.

2) Free Trade: McCain voted for NAFTA, CAFTA, and free trade agreements with Oman, Singapore, Chile, Columbia, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. In fact, the conservative Cato Institute gave him a %100 rating for being pro-free trade.

3) Government Spending: McCain was instrumental in getting the 1996 Line Item Veto Act passed. He also opposes ethanol subsidies.

4) Supreme Court: McCain calls himself a “strict constructionist” and supported the nominations of Bork, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito.

5) Other Domestic Issues: McCain advocates privatizing social security, allowing school vouchers, and keeping capital punishment.

6) War on Terror: From 9/11 on McCain has publicly supported Bush in the War on Terror and the invasion of Afghanistan. He also co-sponsored the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.

7) War in Iraq: McCain voted for the war resolution and strongly supported the surge, so much so in fact that Moveon.org called the surge “McCain’s idea.” Indeed, even this past summer when his support for the surge was demolishing his poll numbers among his independent base, McCain stood behind President Bush and the surge saying, “I’ll take my stand on this war. I would much rather lose a campaign than a war.” I would argue that showed demonstrable political integrity (put simply, he stuck to his guns).

Then I examined the issues on which McCain appears liberal, but is actually conservative or libertarian.

1) Immigration: See my January 28 post where I explain how McCain’s immigration reform proposals are in line with classical Adam Smith liberalism (libertarianism in modern parlance).

2) Bush Tax Cuts: McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. This appears liberal because many Democrats voted against the tax cuts as well. But I agree with McCain when he said that it is not helpful to cut taxes without cutting spending to compensate. Sure, Bush cut taxes, but he also oversaw the biggest increase in governmental spending since FDR. Our deficit has grown worse and worse because of those tax cuts. I am a big fan of the Austrian School of economics (Von Hayek and Milton Friedman) which also advocates pairing cutting taxes with decreasing spending. McCain was actually doing the truly libertarian thing in opposing the tax cuts.

3) Gun Control: McCain’s position on gun control is mixed, but I consider that a strength. He consistently upheld the 2nd Amendment by voting against the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the Brady Bill, and by voting to prohibit frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers for negligence in handgun crimes. But he also supports common sense measures like requiring gun locks on some handguns, requiring some background checks at gun shows, and making it harder for convicted felons and juveniles (including juveniles who are convicted felons!) to purchase handguns. I find this a balanced approach.

4) Torture: McCain has spoken out against the use of waterboarding by the government to obtain confessions and information from suspected terrorists. In case you don’t know, waterboarding is the process of making someone feel and think they are actually drowning without actually doing so. It’s a form of psychological, emotional, and physical torture. John McCain said that he believes information so obtained is questionable and this method is unethical. To be honest, I’m not sure I know where the black line is on acceptable versus unacceptable means of coercion (read torture), but since John McCain was tortured for over five years in North Vietnamese prisons I am willing to accede to his superior knowledge.

Now I will wrap up my research with the only big “liberal” position I can find for John McCain. First let me mention that technically this position is not “liberal,” it is “populist.” Do a google search on the Nolan political compass if you wish to understand the difference between liberal/conservative and populist/libertarian. Arguably the most populist candidate in the primaries is Mike Huckabee, though he is also conservative.

1) Campaign Finance Reform: John McCain cosponsored a bill with liberal Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold to restrict “soft money” donations to campaigns. I agree with libertarian and conservative critics that besides being horribly ineffective McCain-Feingold was a violation of free speech. But when you dig deeper the matter is somewhat more complicated. Laws were already in place limiting how much “hard money” could be given directly to candidates. McCain-Feingold attempted to stop the back door approach of giving “soft money” through the national parties. It was still misguided, but the problem with calling it liberal is pretty simple: both parties were hurt. Soft money flowed into both conservative and liberal coffers from unions (AFL-CIO), businesses, and wealthy individuals (George Soros).

In conclusion, by what standard is one considered liberal or conservative? I believe McCain to be relatively conservative (even more so than Reagan was while governor of California), but if you hate immigration, gun control of any kind, and free trade (this is a shout out to all you Pat Buchanan supporters out there) than you won’t like McCain. If you love tax cuts at all costs, farm and ethanol subsidies, and torture, both of humans and small fuzzy animals, than you won’t like McCain either.

In any case, I believe I have proved that my friend’s statement, “McCain just ain’t no friend of conservatives” but for “one or two issues,” is a gross misstatement of the available data. Of the issues that I analyzed, I believe 9 of them to be clearly conservative, 4 of them likely or mostly conservative, and only 1 more aligned with liberal sentiments.

I propose the following addendum: “Save one or two issues, McCain just ain’t no friend of liberals.”