An article at Right Condition profiles Joe Kennedy, Republican candidate Scott Brown, and former Republican candidate Jack E. Robinson, who was defeated by Brown in the primary. The writer, Arkady, ends up endorsing Kennedy. Here are the parts pertaining to the candidates still in the race:
Scott Brown: Brown has a lot of name recognition being a State Senator and a seasoned politician. He markets himself as a fiscal conservative and has many Republicans (all 14% of them) in MA very excited. He is clearly the front runner although his ability to beat the Democrat Martha Coakley is very questionable. Here is what we know about Scott Brown.
- Supported and still supports RomneyCare. Universal medical coverage here in Massachusetts and clearly responsible for insurance rates climbing double digits in the past several years. He believes that all Americans deserve health coverage and blames the failure of RomneyCare on the current governor. Perplexing at best.
- Voted to override proposition 2 1/2 in Wrentham. Proposition 2 1/2 is designed to keep real estate taxes in check, yet the fiscal conservative felt that supporting an override to extract more money out of Wrentham residents “made sense”.
- Opposed Question 1 in 2008, the ballot initiative to abolish the state income tax. Scott Brown was a special guest on the Michelle McPhee show on 96.9 where he publicly slammed Question 1 and labeled it as radical and irresponsible. Ask yourself a simple question. What kind of politician opposes a ballot initiative to return 5.3% of taxpayer’s income back to them? Especially when you consider that it represents a 12 billion dollar cut from a budget of 50 billion. I think most would agree that there is more than 20% waste in state governments.
The rest of his page does not delve into any specific issue nor does it propose any ideas other than the usual vague promises. His position on the economy is as follows:
I am a free enterprise advocate who believes that lower taxes can encourage economic growth. Raising taxes stifles growth, weakens the economy and puts more people out of work. Our economy works best when individuals have more of their income to spend, and businesses have money to invest and add jobs. I have been a fiscal watchdog in the state legislature fighting bigger government, higher taxes and wasteful spending.
This claim appears to be in sharp contrast with his voting record. Scott Brown is not a conservative, not a friend of the taxpayer and is just another big government Republican wooing people with promises. A prototypical silver tongued politician and not someone deserving of your vote or trust.
Joe Kennedy: Joe Kennedy is running as an independent, but is also endorsed by the Libertarian party. Obviously Mr. Kennedy is an outsider and a major underdog as his name recognition is non-existent and officially not recognized as running by the two party loving media. However he just completed the signature drive and will at least be on the ballot and therefore deserves an examination.
On his website, Kennedy markets himself as a true free-market believer and has the following positions. Unfortunately most positions are strictly in video format and do not contain a corresponding written synopsis.
- Wants to alleviate small business burdens, like the RomneyCare mandates.
- Wants to take away federal control of Marijuana and hand it over to the state. It would be nice if other drugs were mentioned.
- Wants to significantly reduce Federal involvement in health care and setup Medical Savings Accounts such that health expenses become 100% tax deductible. This appears to be an extension on HSAs and is a great proposal with our current tax code.
- Wants to dismantle the welfare system and focus on job creation and tax credits for charities. While the job creation aspect is a bit questionable the idea to encourage and promote charities is admirable. After all, early America’s charity system worked wonders in aspects of education, health care and other social needs. With our current tax code this is the next best step.
- Wants to alleviate credit to promote lending to small businesses as a mechanism for job creation.
Overall, Kennedy appears to be a prototypical small government kind of guy. He is not a politician and it shows by his no nonsense approach and focus on business. Unfortunately his approach to jobs leaves much to be desired, specifically his proposal of credit loosening. This is a big error and a major flaw of Kennedy’s approach to the “job problem”. Cheap credit is precisely how we got into this mess in the first place and it’s not the government’s job to promote credit. Credit is a function of the banks and if the banks believe that enough money has been stored away to merit low interest rates, then credit will flow. Promoting lending for the sake of lending leads to disasters like Fannie/Freddie and ultimately sets up the boom/bust scenario that we have been experiencing for so many decades. Naturally due to his appreciation for cheap credit, he makes no mention of the Federal Reserve and the need for Americans to gain access to the Fed’s balance sheets via an audit.
Still, his stance on health care, welfare and entitlement programs is a refreshing change of pace for this state and embodies the true small government approach that is sorely needed in this time of peril.
For this reason, I support and endorse Joe Kennedy for Senate and urge you to explore his website for more information. The time for “voting for the lesser of two evils” MUST come to an end and only you can make it happen.
Show to Scott Brown, that we will not blindly support him just because he claims to be something he is not. Show the Republican establishment that we the people are tired of choosing between crap and a turd sandwich. If they keep feeding us candidates that expand government without stop to feed their ambitions of power, they will have to do so WITHOUT our support. We do not need another Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins in the Senate and we sure as hell do not need the GOP’s false promises of fiscal salvation. Stop giving them money and stop giving them your support. If you believe in the free market, then trust that your demand for small government politicians will produce candidates that are worthy of your support.
And over at The Kennedy Seat, blogger “the Senator” interviews Joe Kennedy.
Among other subjects covered, Joe does reveal that he supports an audit of the Federal Reserve, to answer a question raised by Arkady above:
Kennedy: Jobs and the Economy go hand and hand and combined they are the biggest issue America is facing. Maintaining our lifestyle requires an understanding of foreign financial policy and how our local economy and jobs go into maintaining the value of our currency. In brief, to ensure our way of life in a global economy, we must get the individual person back to work locally to fuel the economy and protect our dollar. In my research I have found major recessions and depressions end when we cut government spending and lightened the load on the individual tax payer, I have not been able to find an exception to that rule (I will keep looking). If elected I would immediately re-enact Pay-Go (one of the primary reasons the Clinton years were so bountiful), push to end the expensive wars, push to stop the bailouts and bring any unspent money back, move to Audit the Federal Reserve ( as they may be hindering our ability to recover and dollar valuation) and CUT taxes. When in power, the Republicans in congress did not address the job problem. The Democrats have had full control for almost a year but they chose to address entitlement programs first, while the unemployment rate rose. The Massachusetts and American people have been begging for focus on jobs and they have gotten lip service. We must address the Jobs/Economy problems immediately and get America back to work.
Read the rest at The Kennedy Seat.