Separation of church and state: The slogan "Compassionate Conservatism" was endlessly used, abused, debated, and interpreted during the Presidential campaign of 2000. "Compassionate Conservatism" is the title of a book by Marvin Olasky, with a Foreword by George W. Bush. Bush is often listed as co-author. Olasky and Bush have supported providing public funding to religious based charitable organizations claiming that these organizations are more experienced, and more efficient, at providing services to the poor. Critics of this concept claim that the Bush policy is aimed more at supporting, and therefore establishing, religious institutions than supporting the disadvantaged.
Income Group (thousands of dollars)
Average Savings (dollars)
0-10
5
10-20
63
20-30
204
30-40
351
40-50
500
50-75
820
75-100
1,776
100-200
2,710
200-500
5,527
500-1,000
17,605
1,000+
88,873
Economy: His slogan was, "Whoever pays taxes gets a tax break". The rich pay the most taxes, and the current system weighs the income tax against the upper income brackets; Bush's proposed tax plan reduces the taxes on the top income brackets by a greater percentage than middle-income brackets, which is similar to the top income brackets having to pay a greater percentage of taxes than do the middle-income brackets. Bush also supported raising the Earned Income Tax Credit, which would primarily benefit the lower brackets of income-tax-affected citizens.
His 2003 tax proposal offers a sweeping package of tax cuts and incentives that would eliminate all federal taxes on stock dividends, quick tax relief for married couples and a $400-per-child increase in the tax credit for families with children. Economists are divided on the effectiveness of Bush's proposals for helping the economy. John Leonard, the chief of North American equities for UBS Global Asset Management, said eliminating the dividends tax would spur the economy by sending more money into the economy; on the other hand, other economists, including Allen Sinai of Decision Economics and Andrew F. Brimmer, a former Federal Reserve Board member who heads a consulting firm, argued that the dividends tax cut would be largely ineffective [1] . The administration's proposal would also lower taxes for small business owners by expanding the amount of equipment purchases they can write off as deductions from the current $25,000 to $75,000. Opponents argue that this tax proposal would primarily benefit the rich. According to a New York Times analysis published on January 21, 2003, $364 billion out of the $674 billion "economic stimulus" plan is devoted towards eliminating the tax on dividends; however, the poorest fifth of Americans have an average of $25 in dividend income, while the richest fifth have $1,188. The Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center produced the following table describing the impact of Bush's plan on average taxpayers:
Education: policy named No Child Left Behind, includes mandatory national testing and some support for school vouchers. It also makes high school academic records available to military recruiters.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and other domestic fields is claimed to decrease dependence on oil imports, particularly from the Middle East. However, many environmentalists hold that it will produce such small amounts of petroleum as to be effectively useless and will certainly do far greater harm to irreplaceable and finite resources of the planet than good.
Opponents of such drilling recommend alternate courses of action such as to complete research on and implement as a matter of urgency alternative, safe and renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind and tidal power - but not nuclear. Although perhaps requiring greater initial investment, in the long run these are now accepted by many informed environmentalists and scientists as being the most viable alternative to what they see as the vigorously anti-environmental approaches of the Bush administration.
Supporters of drilling in ANWR argue that the Administration has agreed to a number of measures to minimize the impact of drilling on the Arctic environment. For example, roadways would be constructed of ice that would melt in the spring, when activity on the roads would cease. Also, supporters say that the total surface disturbance due to drilling would be limited to not more than 2,000 acres. This is in a total area for ANWR of 19,600,000 acres.
Critics argue that, of the 19,600,000 acres, however, the oil industry is specifically interested in drilling in the coastal plain, a crucial biological habitat, which constitutes 1,500,000 acres, approximately the size of Delaware. Critics point out that the referenced 2,000 acres are not isolated to a single, contiguous block of land, but in fact will stretch out in a vast web across a large expanse of land and will affect much more of the ecosystem than in just those 2,000 acres. Additionally, the full length of the oil pipeline is not included as part of that 2,000 acres, and the roads that are used to support the drilling activity may also be excluded from that total. Despite the proclaimed restriction to 2,000 acres, much of the decision as to how much of the 1,500,000 acres will actually be drilled are ultimately up to the Interior Department.
Because of the Bush Administration's close connections with numerous energy companies, many of Bush's Cabinet members have come under immense scrutiny from environmental groups, in particular Steven Griles, the deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior. National Environmental Strategies (NES), the oil and gas lobbying firm Griles worked for, is currently paying him $284,000 a year as part of a $1.1 million payout for his client base. As deputy secretary of the Interior, Griles is charged with overseeing and revamping environmental regulations that affect the profits of his former clients and NES’s current clients.
Redesign of military with emphasis on supermodern hardware, flexible tactics, speed, less international deployment, fewer troops. This includes developing a system to defend against ballistic missile attacks, despite strong objections both domestically and internationally. Many commentators were critical of Bush when, in his very first policy statement after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Bush reiterated his intent to place missile attack intervention highest on his list of priorities (despite the fact that no such system could have prevented the type of sneak attack the country had really, not theoretically, experienced). However, other commentators have endorsed Bush's position, noting, for example, the continuing development of long-range missile technology by North Korea, along with that country's threats to resume its nuclear weapons program.
