Using the website On the Issues (a lot), at www.ontheissues.org, as well as bios, and campaign websites, I've discovered the following. Keep in mind that some quotes are from On the Issues, some are form websites, and some are from speeches and statements.
1. Hillary Clinton has a long record.
Record: Hillary voted to restrict bankruptcy rights, voted to repeal tax cuts for outsourcing, and has a 35% record with the Chamber of Commerce. She supported using money for tax cuts to the rich instead for helping students. Supports Kyoto, voted for conservation, for alternative energy. She has a mixed record on trade, voting for trade with China, against it with the Andean nations and CAFTA, but for it just 8 months ago with Oman. 17% record with Cato. Apparently used the Republican frame that government shouldn't be the solution to all of our problems. Health care- "provide quality, affordable, universal health care coverage for every single American". She voted in favor of earned legalization for illegal immigrants (which I support), and in favor of a guest worker program (which I oppose). Consistently voted for higher minimum wages, protecting ergonomic rules, 85% record with the AFL-CIO. In 2000, she stressed individual responsibility and community, which is incoherent. In 1999, On the Issues says she "Decried 1980s materialism & excesses of corporate America." Back in the day, 1969, she apparently said that "Humanness goes beyond acquisitiveness." She opposed the repeal of the estate tax. Opposed most of Bush tax cuts, but supported cuts for students, and capital gains and dividends cuts. She has stated that those who work should not be poor, and that, according to On the Issues, "community involvement helps, but only in the short term". Supports tax cuts to promote home ownership and microcredit as a means of reducing poverty. Strongly opposes school vouchers.
History: Hillary was born in 1947, and grew up in a family in which her father owned a small business. Her family was conservative, and when she was 17 she volunteered for Barry Goldwater. She attended Wellesly and was the president of the College Republicans there, but became a Democrat before she graduated with a degree in political science. As a lawyer she specialized in intellectual property and children's issues.
Judgment: Hillary is hard to pin down. There is a lot that should make her a welfare liberal, and a lot that should make her a social democrat. It's often difficult to distinguish, and I probably shouldn't even try. She has tended to use language and support markets and market-based solutions, although she has also supported some regulation and some government programs. It could merely be that Hillary is influenced by conservatism than socialism, and that is why it is difficult to tell from where her statements about community and decrying materialism come from, because both conservatives and socialists would say those things. She does, though, have more of a record of supporting investment and property rights. It may be that she is consciously trying to appeal to both groups. It is sometimes hard to tell, but I'm going to say that Hillary is a modern, or welfare liberal.
2. John Edwards changed a lot in the period of May-July 2003, coincidentally the last time he was referenced as associated with the DLC was in July 2003, and his economic and environmental records seem to have begun improving around then. "Brothers and Sisters, in times like these, we do not need to redefine the Democratic Party, we need to reclaim the Democratic Party,"- at the DNC Winter Meeting.
Record: He has consistently voted for a higher minimum wage, and expressed concerns about equality of opportunity and helping the poor. We have a "moral responsibility to help 35 million Americans in poverty." We should "achieve high-speed Internet access for all Americans." Supported tax reductions for paying for college, opposed many of Bush's tax cuts, and supports shifting the tax burden form "work" to "wealth". Voted against Social Security Lockbox, but has been consistently against privatization and using the surplus for other things. We need to "fight for values of people and workers over privilege... career spent fighting for the working people". Apparently he used the Republican frame that "America should be an ownership society", ugh. He said that of the "Two Americas: one does the work, the other reaps the reward". "We need a new spirit of activism and leadership." He has a consistent rating on working peoples' issues, 100% rating with the AFL-CIO, consistent on rural, agricultural issues, for ag. subsidies, but not for agribusiness. Strangely supports expanding H-1B visas but opposes guest worker program (Wiki, FWIW), and supports earned legalization. Good universal health care plan for universal insurance coverage, possible pathway to single-payer, criticized Democrats who talk about "access" to health care, when we need universal. Unfortunately, early on he had several votes for trade with China, Vietnam, and Andean nations that apparently lacked the standards we might want them to have, but since then has opposed expanding trade w/out such standards, and recently came out against a proposed free trade deal with South Korea. Good records with Cato and the Christian Coalition: 17% and 0%, respectively. He has a record supporting increasing CAFE, increasing conservation, and biomass. "Will you stand up for an energy policy that is not dictated by the profits of big oil companies?" He is in favor of the estate tax. He is strongly against vouchers and an 83% record with the NEA. He has a program for paying for college for students willing to work 10 hrs. a week that is already working for some in NC. Voted to restrict bankruptcy rights. From On the Issues:
"Tax incentives to companies to keep jobs in America. Crack down on CEO pay; and require honest accounting. Address moral crisis: Shareholder & Worker Bill of Rights. Rated 15% by the US Chamber of Commerce, indicating an anti-business voting record."
History: John Edwards was born in 1953, son of a father who worked at a textile mill (whose job surely no longer exists in America) and a mother who was a postal worker. He was the first in his family to attend college, attending Clemson University, NCSU (bachelor's degree in textile technology), and UNC at Chapel Hill for law. Of his four children with his wife, Elizabeth, their first, their son Wade, died in a car accident in 1996, which has been cited as his reason for getting into politics. In 1998, he defeated an incumbent Republican Senator by 83,000 votes, 51.2% to 47%. He ran a campaign for president in 2004 on a similar theme, focused on economic issues like trade and poverty.
Judgment: From his background, from his language in speeches, from his record, I would be willing to classify his ideology as a weak social democrat. He stresses things like compassion, equality, and social and moral responsibility to each other, which are principles based on a social ideology. "We need to be patriotic about something other than just war,"- One Corps National Day of Action. John stresses a certain nationalism and sense of social responsibility, which are common to both conservatism and socialism, but his background makes clear which he is. He stresses compassion and brotherhood, which are both strong socialist principles. He seems to stress a social responsibility in foreign policy as well, that we have a responsibility to help those in other countries, not just those who are poor, but we must fight for their human rights. I'm not sure how broadly he defines his vision of equality, but from his discussion of economic inequality, it seems he is closer to a socialist than a liberal on that as well. Although I wasn't at first, I am now fairly confident in defining John as a social democrat.
3. Barack Obama has been accused of having little of substance, but we shouldn't mistake that for a lack of it. Remember, FDR was called "shallow", and was weak on specifics when he first ran. Barack has a longer record than John Edwards, and a longer period as a leader and a community activist. We have more to draw on than many think.
Record: Apparently, in the 2004 campaign, he declared support for federal programs to protect rural economies. He said there should be tax incentives for corporate responsibility. He said we should close loopholes that allow companies to relocate overseas, and reward companies that create jobs in the US. He voted to repeal the tax incentives to outsource. He voted against the bankruptcy bill (Yes!). Supports charter schools and private investments in schools, and has supported free college for students that have at least a B average. He has a strong record on conservation and alternative energy, and this seems to be a major focus for him. He insists we should have better labor and human rights standards in trade agreements, voted against CAFTA, for free trade with Oman. Health Care: "Promoting affordable, accessible, and high-quality health care is a priority for Senator Obama."- from his website. Supports earned legalization for illegal immigrants (which I support) and supports a guest worker program (which I oppose). Consistently he has supported raising the minimum wage. He said that tax cuts for the rich do not create jobs. He stated that America's race and class problems are intertwined (duh, but appreciate it). He stated that the "poverty of political organizers was proof of their integrity."- from On the Issues. He voted against tax cuts for capital gains and dividends, against repeal of the estate tax.
History: Grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, IIRC, and became a community organizer in Chicago after college, rather than going to law school or working on Wall Street like his friends. He went to Harvard Law, and was the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review, and afterward went back to Chicago where he led a voter registration drive that registered something like 150,000 voters, and he was a civil rights lawyer. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.
Judgment: I can confidently say that Barack is at least a weak social democrat. His record on the economy is little different from John's or Hillary's, and when I have heard him, he hasn't used populist or socialistic language, but I stumbled across a few things, including something from a speech to Campus Progress:
"... we live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained. A culture where those in power too often encourage these selfish impulses.
They will tell you that the Americans who sleep in the streets and beg for food got there because they're all lazy or weak of spirit. That the inner-city children who are trapped in dilapidated schools can't learn and won't learn and so we should just give up on them entirely. That the innocent people being slaughtered and expelled from their homes half a world away are somebody else's problem to take care of.
I hope you don't listen to this. I hope you choose to broaden, and not contract, your ambit of concern. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all of those who helped you get to where you are, although you do have that debt.
It's because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. And because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential - and become full-grown."
Empathy is a socialistic principle. The sense of mutual obligation, community, and interdependence could be conservative or socialistic, but his record, past statements, and the insistence that people can change for the better clearly make him more of a socialist. God, I wish he were more vocal about it. I want someone who uses a lot of populist messaging, which he doesn't. He usually comes off, to me, as more of a progressive, but it is clear now that he is a social democrat.
4. Bill Richardson seems to be one of the more "New Democrat"-ish candidates. Is he? I don't really know, that's really just from what I've heard. He has the hair of John Edwards, although he has a few pounds on John.
Record: Bill supports a balanced budget amendment, and has insisted on "conservative" spending policies, and has supported the idea of a small, effective government. Not only supports higher pay for teachers, but substantially increased the pay of teachers in New Mexico. He supported school vouchers first, then changed his position when he ran for governor, and supports charter schools. He has a record for conservation and alternative energy. Supports free trade, said NAFTA was critically important to both the US and Mexico. On health care he supports cutting costs and expanding access to affordable health care. A decade ago he was for a harsher immigration policy, including not giving citizenship to the children of immigrants, but now supports earned legalization, and a guest worker program. He supports tax cuts, particularly to the income tax, and supports a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights".
"We need to work with business, that's where the jobs are created after all, instead of engaging in ideological warfare, and we need the right kind of tax incentives, not just tax cuts for the wealthy and income transfers from the middle class to big corporations."
History: Bill Richardson was born in 1947 to an American father, who worked for Citibank in Mexico City, and a Mexican mother. He was sent to Massachusetts to attend a prep school when he was 13, and he studied French and political science at Tufts, and went on to get a masters from Tufts. He moved to New Mexico in 1978, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1980, then successfully ran in a newly created district in 1982, and served in Congress until 1997. He focused on foreign policy issues and fashioned himself as a diplomat, engaging in diplomacy with Saddam's Iraq, Sudan, and North Korea while he was in Congress. In 1997 he was appointed to be the US Ambassador to the UN, and in 1998, Secretary of Energy until the end of the Clinton Administration.
Judgemnt: Richardson is clearly a liberal, and perhaps not even a "modern" liberal, but a more traditional one, or even a neoliberal. I don't think I need to explain why. I won't support him.
Conclusions:
I was wrong about Hillary. Perhaps I can trust her as much as John and Barack. I really don't know. It was really too hard to pin her down. John is not the populist I really want, but he uses the message, which is really what I want. More so than anyone else, he communicates like a populist or a social democrat. I learned a lot about Barack. He has a clearer and more consistent history than the others, and I would probably be happy with him as president. I just wish he would talk about it more, but he maybe too cautious. The media has a history of mistreating or belittling those populist and social democrat types. I'm happy now as a supporter of John and Barack, and I'm more open to Hillary than I was before.
I hope I did fairly well in defining them, and I hope you enjoyed.
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