I realize that for a lot of people, the last name Bush is all the reason they need not to support Jeb Bush for the Republican presidential nomination. Whether it’s because of branding or just the belief that the Bush family is a bunch of RINOs – or just being tired of being asked to vote for Bushes – you’ve had it and you don’t want another one.
I get that, but there were some positive things in Jeb Bush’s record as governor of Florida, so like every other candidate I want to give him a fair chance and see what he has to say.
But I’m keeping a tickler file, and in his speech on Monday to the Detroit Economic Club, Bush let me down at least twice. Maybe three times.
The first was when he said that we should have sustained economic growth of at least 4 percent – and we agree there – but then proceeded to insist that the way to get there is to make it easier for ambitious immigrants to come into this country legally.
Look, I have no problem with entrepreneurial immigrants coming here legally and working or building businesses. That’s great. But does Gov. Bush not understand that we have a lot of entrepreneurial-minded people already here who are being hampered by a meddling government that is taxing and regulating them into virtual submission?
Get government out of the way and unleash the entrepreneurial power of Americans. That will give you growth. Then if legal immigrants want to join the party, fine, but don’t tell me the immigrants are what you need to fuel the growth. That’s just nonsense.
The second letdown is Gov. Bush’s continued insistence on supporting Common Core, even to the point where, when challenged on the matter, he says he just has to do a better job of explaining Common Core to people who “don’t understand it.”
I understand it. So do most of you. The idea was to put certain standards in place that everyone would have to meet so they can “compete globally” with other countries that are supposedly meeting these standards. It’s a classic case of Washington bureaucrats thinking they know better than everyone else. The actual implementation has been a fiasco on so many levels, it’s clear we would have been better off trusting the states and local school districts to decide what’s best for their students.
It’s not that we don’t understand it, Gov. Bush. It’s that we do, and it’s a disaster.
Those are my two. We also discussed last week on the Herman Cain Channel that Gov. Bush was giving lip service to “income inequality.” That is not a good sign. Carping about income inequality is the left’s latest way of laying the groundwork for wealth redistribution schemes. Inequality is inevitable in any free economy and no politician should be claiming he can eliminate it – least of all a Republican who claims to be a free-market guy.
Gov. Bush, I want to give you a fair chance. But you need to make the most of it. This is not the way to do it.
