I’ve been asked as an evangelical why I am hesitant about supporting Mike Huckabee. First, I think Mike Huckabee is a man of great faith and conviction, two very important characteristics. I believe he is a man of honor, although I didn’t approve of his disrespectful joke he made at the expense of Fred Thompson on MSNBC; not very Christlike was that comment.
Nevertheless, Governor Huckabee’s strengths are his faith, his stance on the sanctity of life, energy independence (although I don’t see how he’ll accomplish that in 8 years), his support for Israel and his stated Cuba policy, and his strong stance on 2nd Amendment rights.
My issues with Governor Huckabee are in the following areas:
Immigration
▪ Does not punish sanctuary cities; without this his plan will not “empower local authorities.”
▪ Economic border not realistic by moving “toward passage of the FairTax” because you have to repeal the 16th Amendment to remove the federal income tax system. Governor Huckabee does not address how he envisions this happening.
▪ Governor Huckabee says he prevents amnesty yet his program promises “Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit.” (emphasis added)
Dictionary.com defines amnesty as “an act of forgiveness for past offenses, esp. to a class of persons as a whole; a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.” That sounds like amnesty to me, at least a limited form. If that’s what you’re offering then call it limited amnesty; don’t try to blow smoke at us.
Education
Governor Huckabee’s website claims: “I have been a strong, consistent supporter of the rights of parents to home school their children, of creating more charter schools, and of public school choice.” Has he? What does his time as governor tell us?
In 1999, Mike Huckabee signed into law House Bill 1724 that undid many of the initial gains he brought about in his first two years as governor. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association said this:
"The enactment of House Bill 1724 on April 5, 1999, gives Arkansas the unique distinction of becoming the first state in the nation to add restrictions to its existing home school law."
"Arkansas is now one of only 12 states to impose a deadline for beginning home schooling or requiring parents to provide advance notice to public school officials of their decision to do so. Because of this restriction, parents who encounter intolerable conditions at the public school, such as imminent danger to the safety or welfare of their child, will have to wait at least 14 days before withdrawing the child to begin home schooling or else face truancy charges for unexcused absences during the 14-day waiting period. No such restriction exists for parents who decide to immediately remove their children to attend a private or parochial school in Arkansas. This raises serious issues regarding the right of parents to direct the education of their children and equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."
Now governor Huckabee will defend his signing this bill into law because the Democratic majority was going to pass a stricter law, but why not veto the bill Governor? Why not show that you are a defender of families and make them override your veto? It seems the good governor wasn’t up for the fight! Why would he be with a more contentious US Congress…if he wasn’t willing to stand up against the Arkansas legislature, how do you think he will perform against Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi?
Health Care
Governor Huckabee says “The health care system in this country is irrevocably broken…” Again, let’s go to Dictionary.com: “not to be revoked or recalled; unable to be repealed or annulled; unalterable.” Now that sounds like hyperbole to me. Fred Thompson says “Americans have the best healthcare in the world.” Does it need to be fixed? Absolutely! Is it broken beyond repair! Not even close.
Now I do believe that Governor Huckabee has a good plan for the most part; but he and Fred Thompson’s plans are very similar.
My point here is that Governor Huckabee is using the same language as liberals and the Democrats when it comes to health care. Here’s just a sampling:
On the People’s Weekly World’s (PWW) website, numerous articles can be found on “the broken health care system.” PWW is the self-proclaimed” direct descendant of the Daily Worker.” The Daily Worker was “an East coast daily newspaper published by the Communist Party of the United States.”
“If anything, I don't have to convince the American public that we have a broken health-care system. I think the majority of Americans since they have to go through that health-care system, already know it.” Michael Moore, interview with NPR.
“The most important difference between our health care plans is that I'm actually willing to take on the broken system in Washington to make sure we finally get universal health care” John Edwards commenting on the difference between Hillary Clinton and his health care plan.
"The American people support this issue because kids do not need to suffer for what is basically a broken health care system, and this provides those children with that health care.” Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, National Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman
Economy
Governor Huckabee states on his website: “I believe in free trade, but it has to be fair trade.” How do you go about establishing free trade that is fair trade Governor? Here is what some leading economists have said about free trade:
“It is necessary in the first instance that the parties in the market should be free to sell and buy at any price at which they can find a partner to the transaction and that anybody should be free to produce, sell and buy anything that may be produced or sold at all.” Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek
Economics professor George Reisman defending free trade: “The fact that it is not equally less costly for their goods to reach others does not take away the advantages to them of others' goods being able to reach them more cheaply. It would be the height of absurdity on their part to demand that inbound freight be rendered artificially more costly in order to equalize the transportation costs of inbound and outbound freight.”
Governor Huckabee says, “We are losing jobs because of an unlevel, unfair trading arena that has to be fixed.” How would you go about fixing it Sir? If you intervene, it is no longer free.
It seems as though Governor Huckabee has a populist approach to government “that will unite the country.” Ronald Reagan united this country by being an unwavering, unapologetic conservative who believed in the federalist form of government.
My concern with Governor Huckabee is that he will rely too much on government to fix problems facing Americans, when it should be Americans fixing their own problems with a little help from their friends and not Uncle Sam.
That is why I am hesitant about supporting Mike Huckabee.
