eflatminor
Classical Liberal
- May 24, 2011
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...problems with the Obama proposal to allow federal officials to affirmatively assert that a requested document doesn't exist when it does.
Yea, that's a bad one. Oddly and despite the two men being fundamentally dissimilar politically, Nixon and Obama are alike in so many ways:
- Economy - Both faced an economic downturn. Nixon faced an economy strained under record deficits, runaway spending on elective and unpopular overseas wars, and new entitlements (Medicare and Medicaid). Sound familiar?
- War Mongering - Both escalated overseas wars
- Pre-Presidential Careers - Both were self made lawyers
- The Drug War - Nixon codified the drug war with the Controlled Substances Act of 1970; Obama, despite running on a promise of less drug enforcement, continues his predecessor's funding of the war on drugs while upping federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries.
- Ineffective and Costly Regulation - Both signed major legislation requiring lenders to write their customer contracts in clear language...but I'm sure it will work this time???
- Cronyism - Nixon created the money losing government controlled Amtrak; Obama and his Amtrak loving VP threw even more money down the stimulus sinkhole...and Obama wants even more money losing trains!
- Economic Meddling - Nixon gave us wage-and-price controls. The 21st century version was Bush's TARP, which was appended in 2010 by Obama's financial regulatory reform, dictating what products, rates, and fees the government allows the consumer finance industry to offer.
For two Presidents supposed to be at radically different ends of the political spectrum, there sure are a lot of similarities. Perhaps the Libertarians were right all along and America is really a one-party country. Half of it is called Republican and half is called Democrat.