Tom Tancredo: One Trick Pony?

By James Kotthoff

I have been researching Tom Tancredo for awhile. He has gotten a reputation in the MSM as a one trick pony, that trick being illegal immigration. That is amazing to me that any reasonable person would honestly say he is a “one trick pony” since he has been in congress since 1998. You don’t get re-elected if you only have one trick, Just ask Bush the senior. I want to look at his stand on some major issues. We will start with his position on the major issues of today.

Illegal immigration: He has a clear vision of what he believes and this has been constant throughout his career. He believes in not rewarding lawbreakers and most importantly to me he believes in self deportation. Anyone who does not think that self deportation is a viable option needs to look more closely at reality. If you enforce the current laws against employers, sanctuary cities and social service agencies you remove any incentive for illegal aliens to stay. A vast majority would self deport and the rest could easily be rounded up and deported. The common myth that you can’t deport 12- 20 million people is just that a myth.

Legal Immigration: He supports a cap on legal immigration in the amount of 250,000 a year, Not the 1,000,000+ a year that legally immigrate here. Even unlimited legal immigration is harmful to this country. Even discounting the cultural damage and the damage to our infrastructure, he fact remains that our resources cannot support that many people.

Defense/ National Security: He has a common sense approach to the Iraq war. One that is neither a cut and run view nor a stay the course view. He advocates a strategy of a rapid response force to deal with Al Qaeda and other terrorist issues, While assisting the region to find it’s own balance of power. On the national security front the advocates secure borders. Overall a solid strategy, Iraq must decide what course they will travel.

Education: He supports parental control over the education of their children, not government control. He advocates school vouchers and school choice. A parent should be the one who decides on what is the best educational path for their child.

Social Security: He supports partial privatization of social security for younger workers. To me this makes sense, you relieve some of the pressure on the system while still honoring the governments obligations to older workers and retirees. This is a compromise that takes a flawed system and makes it workable. As those who need the system die you can gradually phase out the social security system as it exists. And replace it with a system that puts more responsibility for retirement in the hands of the individual.

Taxes: He supports either a flat tax or a national sales tax in place of the current federal income tax. I see pluses and minuses to both systems. I prefer the flat tax option with limited deductions. A national sales tax would be fine as long as it was weighted towards luxury goods and not basic necessities.

Abortion: He is strictly opposed to abortion. Me I am opposed to any abortion that is not based on a life threatening risk to the mother. I find it ironic that our government and society complain about the aging population and the low birth rate in this country, yet we allow the abortion of millions of babies.

These are just a few of the issues, if you take the time and do a little research you will find more on his positions. The key thing that attracts me to Tom Tancredo as a presidential candidate is he is a federalist. For those unclear what a federalist system is here is the Britannica definition.

federalism

Political system that binds a group of states into a larger, noncentralized, superior state while allowing them to maintain their own political identities. Certain characteristics and principles are common to all successful federal systems: a written constitution or basic law stipulating the distribution of powers; diffusion of power among the constituent elements, which are substantially self-sustaining; and territorial divisions to ensure neutrality and equality in the representation of various groups and interests. Changes require the consent of those affected.

Basically he believes in the states right to self govern with little federal intervention. Part of being a good citizen is to take an active role in deciding the direction of this country. As the old saying goes if you don’t vote, don’t complain. And if you do vote, do the research to make informed decisions.

See Tom's record...here.

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