spursncowboys
01-25-2010, 09:45 AM
How Many Senators Are More Liberal than the Socialist One? (http://feeds.cato.org/%7Er/Cato-at-liberty/%7E3/PdBqaf1Ahd8/)
from Cato @ Liberty (http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cato-at-liberty.org%2Ffeed%2F) by David Boaz2 people liked this
By David Boaz
In a profile (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803526_pf.html) of the poetry-reading chief of staff to Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), the Washington Post calls Sanders not only “the only socialist in the U.S. Congress,” but also “surely [the Senate's] most liberal [member].” Surely. I mean, he’s a socialist, right? (And by the way, that isn’t a label (http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=7b6eba9b-67f5-4d8f-bc75-ce63a07035d2) that Sanders rejects (http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/8/vermonts_bernie_sanders_becomes_first_socialist).)
Well, maybe not. According to the National Taxpayers Union (http://www.ntu.org/misc_items/rating/VS_2008.pdf), 42 senators in 2008 voted to spend more tax dollars than socialist Bernie Sanders. They include his neighbor Pat Leahy; Californians Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, who just can’t understand why their home state is in fiscal trouble; and the Eastern Seaboard anti-taxpayer Murderers’ Row of Kerry, Dodd, Lieberman, Clinton, Schumer, Lautenberg, Menendez, Carper, Biden, Cardin, and Mikulski (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/06/15/the-mikulski-principle/). Don’t carry cash on Amtrak! Not to mention Blanche Lambert Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who apparently think Arkansans don’t pay taxes so federal spending is free. Sen. Barack Obama didn’t vote often enough to get a rating in 2008, but in 2007 (http://www.ntu.org/misc_items/rating/VS_2007.pdf) he managed to be one of the 11 senators who voted for more spending than the socialist senator.
Meanwhile, the American Conservative Union rated (http://www.acuratings.org/2008senate.htm) 11 senators more liberal than Sanders in 2008, including Biden, Boxer, Feinstein, and again the georgraphically confused Mark Pryor. The Republican Liberty Caucus declared (http://www.republicanliberty.org/LibDex/LI_2008.pdf) 14 senators, including Sanders, to have voted 100 percent anti-economic freedom in 2008, though Sanders voted better than 31 colleagues in support of personal liberties. The liberal Americans for Democratic Action provides more support for the Post’s claim, rating Sanders 100 percent liberal (http://www.adaction.org/media/votingrecords/2008.pdf). Most raters, though, don’t see it that way. In this compilation of ratings (http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Comparison/Maps/Apr09.html) from left-leaning interest groups, 17 senators get higher scores than Sanders.
It almost seems that an avowed socialist is middle-of-the-road among Senate Democrats.
from Cato @ Liberty (http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cato-at-liberty.org%2Ffeed%2F) by David Boaz2 people liked this
By David Boaz
In a profile (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803526_pf.html) of the poetry-reading chief of staff to Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), the Washington Post calls Sanders not only “the only socialist in the U.S. Congress,” but also “surely [the Senate's] most liberal [member].” Surely. I mean, he’s a socialist, right? (And by the way, that isn’t a label (http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=7b6eba9b-67f5-4d8f-bc75-ce63a07035d2) that Sanders rejects (http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/8/vermonts_bernie_sanders_becomes_first_socialist).)
Well, maybe not. According to the National Taxpayers Union (http://www.ntu.org/misc_items/rating/VS_2008.pdf), 42 senators in 2008 voted to spend more tax dollars than socialist Bernie Sanders. They include his neighbor Pat Leahy; Californians Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, who just can’t understand why their home state is in fiscal trouble; and the Eastern Seaboard anti-taxpayer Murderers’ Row of Kerry, Dodd, Lieberman, Clinton, Schumer, Lautenberg, Menendez, Carper, Biden, Cardin, and Mikulski (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/06/15/the-mikulski-principle/). Don’t carry cash on Amtrak! Not to mention Blanche Lambert Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who apparently think Arkansans don’t pay taxes so federal spending is free. Sen. Barack Obama didn’t vote often enough to get a rating in 2008, but in 2007 (http://www.ntu.org/misc_items/rating/VS_2007.pdf) he managed to be one of the 11 senators who voted for more spending than the socialist senator.
Meanwhile, the American Conservative Union rated (http://www.acuratings.org/2008senate.htm) 11 senators more liberal than Sanders in 2008, including Biden, Boxer, Feinstein, and again the georgraphically confused Mark Pryor. The Republican Liberty Caucus declared (http://www.republicanliberty.org/LibDex/LI_2008.pdf) 14 senators, including Sanders, to have voted 100 percent anti-economic freedom in 2008, though Sanders voted better than 31 colleagues in support of personal liberties. The liberal Americans for Democratic Action provides more support for the Post’s claim, rating Sanders 100 percent liberal (http://www.adaction.org/media/votingrecords/2008.pdf). Most raters, though, don’t see it that way. In this compilation of ratings (http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Comparison/Maps/Apr09.html) from left-leaning interest groups, 17 senators get higher scores than Sanders.
It almost seems that an avowed socialist is middle-of-the-road among Senate Democrats.