When I was at CPAC this year, FreedomWorks hosted a blogger’s bash. It was a pretty nice spread. While I was enjoying a free beverage and considering how I would go about destroying the barbeque they set out for us, Tabitha Hale approached me and asked, “Would you like to meet Leader Armey?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
Next thing I know, Dick Armey is talking to me about Jesse James. Not the moron who cheated on Sandra Bullock, but the real Jesse James. From Missouri.
He also told me he saved homeschooling. God bless him for that.
All in all, he seemed like a nice enough guy.
Since then, I have had some concerns about his positions.
First off, as Michelle Malkin points out, he’s pro amnesty.
Secondly, he’s very much against the Fair Tax. Neal Boortz suggests he was behind the Tea Party Patriots removal of the Fair Tax from the Contract from America:
The idea behind the CFA idea was admirable. People could register on the website, then they could present an idea for consideration by others. The idea was to get tens of thousands of Americans to vote on the various ideas. After a certain period the top ten ideas, as chosen by the participants, would be placed into a “Contract From America” and presented to political candidates for their signature. So far, so good. Seems like a good idea.
There was a problem though .. a problem for Dick Armey. Armey, you see, has been a long-time proponent of a flat tax. I can remember many years ago when Armey, then a Congressman, and Congressman Billy Tauzin from Louisiana went on the road to stage a series of public debates on a national sales tax vs. a flat tax. This was before the FairTax, but nonetheless I had been promoting the idea of a national retail sales tax as a replacement for the income tax for several years. The organizers of the Armey-Tauzin debate asked me to moderate. I promoted the event on the air — and 3000 people showed up for an event the organizers thought would draw about 250.
So … Armey is a staunch flat-taxer. Along comes this “Contract From America” bit from the Armey-funded Tea Party Patriots .. and guess what? “Enact the FairTax” turns out to be the number one idea by a two-to-one margin. Well Armey is having none of that, so mysteriously the website changes “Enact the FairTax” to “Fundamental tax reform” on its website.
I went to the Contract from America website and here’s what I saw:
While the flat tax would be better than the monstrosity we have now, I am not a flat taxer. Give me the Fair Tax, please.
By the way, if you have not completed your suggestions for the CFA, now’s a great time to do it. It took me about three minutes.
