Friday’s Fable: The Crow and the Raven
By Duane Lester • Feb 8th, 2008A CROW was jealous of the Raven, because he was considered a bird of good omen and always attracted the attention of men, who noted by his flight the good or evil course of future events. Seeing some travelers approaching, the Crow flew up into a tree, and perching herself on one of the branches, cawed as loudly as she could. The travelers turned towards the sound and wondered what it foreboded, when one of them said to his companion, “Let us proceed on our journey, my friend, for it is only the caw of a crow, and her cry, you know, is no omen.”
You may not have heard, but John McCain was a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution. It’s true, just ask him.
And now there are other some who want us to believe that John McCain is Reagan reborn.
In the mid-1970s, the GOP was crippled by corruption, and betrayal of conservative principles had brought the party to its knees. Expectations of a firm and principled stand against the Soviet Union had been converted to the misty-eyed policy of “detente.” The reigning Republican Establishment considered Reagan an interloper, an ill-informed and a somewhat primitive and uninformed one at that.
…
In short, Reagan challenged the reigning Establishment and in so doing, remade the Republican Party, at least its base, into a movement that for thirty years challenged the status quo rather than merely embrace it.
In the intervening years since the Reagan presidency, a new status quo, inconsistent with mainstream conservative principles and actions, has taken hold in the Republican Party, promoting practices, programs and principles inconsistent with the Party’s character and traditions. Just as Ronald Reagan did in his time, John McCain now challenges this Establishment “orthodoxy.”
John McCain does indeed challenge the “establishment.” But as Mark Levin notes, where Reagan attacked the establishment from the right, McCain attacks conservatives from the left.
For example, Reagan cut taxes in order to stimulate the economy. When Reagan came into office, the top tax rate was at 70% and he chopped it in half.
But McCain voted against tax cuts when Bush pushed for them in 2000. He sided with the Democrats, not only in opposition, but using class warfare rhetoric. It also went further than just voting against them, as the Club for Growth notes:
Senator McCain not only voted against the Bush tax cuts, he joined leading liberal senators in offering and voting for amendments designed to undermine them. All in all, Senator McCain voted on the pro-tax side of 14 such amendments in 2001 and 2003. These included such odious measures as:
- An amendment sponsored by Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) to prohibit a reduction in the top tax rate until Congress enacted legislation to provide a prescription drug benefit[10]
- An amendment sponsored by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) against full repeal of the Death Tax.[11]
- This vote is in keeping with Senator McCain’s 2002 vote against repealing the Death Tax[12]
- An amendment sponsored by Tom Daschle (D-SD) and co-sponsored by Senator McCain to limit tax reduction in the top tax bracket to one percentage point[13]
He claims now it was because the cuts did not include spending cuts, but that’s different from what he said then.
McCain also differs from Reagan in his contempt for the free market. He makes his feelings obvious with comments like:
I know how to lead.
I led the largest squadron in the United States Navy. And I did it out of patriotism, not for profit.
and
I think that we’ve got to return to the principle that you don’t lend money that can’t pay it back. I think that there’s some greedy people on Wall Street that perhaps need to be punished.
As Mark Steyn notes:
For a so-called “maverick”, he’s very comfortable with the application of Big Government power, and the assumption of Big Government virtue.
Compare McCain’s above comments with comments from Reagan, which show his respect for free enterprise:
Political demagogues aided by spokesmen for a variety of causes, some worthy in themselves but questionable as to whether they’re a proper concern of government, have created a political and economic mythology widely believed by too many people. This is why we need the communications. This, more than anything else, has increased government’s ability to interfere, as it does, in the marketplace. “Profit” is a dirty word, blamed for most of our social ills. In the interest of something called “consumerism,” free enterprise is becoming far less free. Property rights are being reduced and even eliminated in the name of environmental protection. It is time that a voice be raised on behalf of the 73 million, pointing out that profit, property rights, and freedom are inseparable and you cannot have the third unless you continue to be entitled to have the first two.
Where Reagan seems to recognize the threat government intrusion posed to business, McCain seems to advocate more of it. Where Reagan values profit, McCain uses it against successful businessmen.
We could also talk about where Reagan and McCain differ on the subject on treating terrorists under the Geneva convention.
There is no doubt in my mind that McCain has some conservative beliefs. What worries me is his embracing his maverick status. As John Bicknell said yesterday in CQ Politics:
…when he is with the Democrats, he is really with them. McCain is not someone who simply reaches across the aisle to form coalitions with the other side. He walks across the aisle, puts on the other team’s uniform and sings the other team’s fight song.
I can’t imagine Reagan in that position. When Reagan reached across the aisle, it was to grab the Democrats and pull them to the right. Reagan worked to further the conservative agenda.
For McCain to continue to tell us that he is comparable to Reagan is rewrite history. He needs to run on his record, not Reagan’s. To do otherwise is laughable, which brings us to the moral of this fable:
Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.
