Have you noticed that we’re on a bit of a Tommy Thompson buzz recently, here at Irregular Times? It’s a seductively fun thing to do because:
1. Not many people bother writing about Tommy Thompson, who exists in many Americans’ minds as little more than one of those other Republican candidates.
2. Tommy Thompson is just the right combination of kooky and regionally powerful to do some really absurd things. For instance…
…Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin is running for President as a Republican in 2008. To help distinguish his campaign, Thompson is calling himself “The Reliable Conservative”
What does that mean, for Tommy Thompson to call himself The Reliable Conservative? A conservative, among other things, is supposed to be against impositions of power by big, central governments against small, local governments. So, you would think that Thompson would reflect that kind of small government political philosophy in his presidential campaign.
Actually, that’s not what Tommy Thompson does at all. The Tommy Thompson for President campaign actually touts some anti-conservative policies. For example, the Thompson 2008 web site proclaims on its front page,
“Governor Thompson signed legislation that banned Wisconsin communities from passing anti-gun ordinances that are stricter than state law.”
There you have it, as plain as day. As governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson favored laws that enabled big government to deny the right of small communities to make decisions for themselves about issues that matter to them. That’s not in accordance with the political philosophy conservatives say that they stand for.
For the purposes of this article, I’m not saying that the particular legislation Tommy Thompson supported was a good idea or a bad idea. I’m just pointing out that it was not at all conservative. If Tommy Thompson is willing to admit right there on the front page of his campaign web site that he favored quite unconservative legislation as governor, how does that make him The Reliable Conservative?
It seems more apt to say that Tommy Thompson is The Conservative of Convenience.
