A Conservative On Bush

To the Editor:

How can a true conservative support G.W. Bush? I am a registered Republican with a conservative viewpoint, and I can’t think of one reason to vote for Bush, but I can think of many not to.

As a conservative, I believe in fiscal responsibility. Bush campaigned on a platform that included balancing the budget, but he has done the exact opposite. His fiscal policy is totally irresponsible. He is the first president in history to lower taxes during wartime and he has allowed government spending to rage unchecked. The result is a record deficit of over $400 billion (2003 fiscal year) bringing our debt to over $4 trillion. Who do you think will have to pay off that debt?

Another Bush campaign promise was to avoid nation building, but his former Treasury secretary and top ranking antiterrorist expert both say he and his closest associates came into office seeking a reason to attack Iraq as soon as possible. Conservatives don’t entangle themselves and their country in unnecessary foreign military engagements. Did Iraq pose an imminent threat to the US? Not according to another Bush high ranking security official, George Tenet, former head of the CIA.

Some say Bush is a new type of conservative, a neoconservative. If that’s the case, God save us from neoconservatives.

Bill Meiners

5 Tory Lane, Newtown                                                  August 31, 2004