The 2008 presidential field at-a-glance

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I've heard very little about Fred Thompson. I would love to hear why you like him so much!

http://www.fred08.com/Principles/Pri...iew=Principles

http://www.fred08.com/Principles/PrinciplesSummary.aspx

I think he recognizes that he has a much better chance of picking up Republican delegates in South Carolina than in Michigan (which I think is sort of seen as a McCain vs. Romney state as far as Rs are concerned), so I don't think he's been campaigning up there at all.

The links above will take you to the issues section of his website if you REALLY want to know what he thinks. They're pretty thorough.

I like him because he seems to recognize that everything we'd like in life is not the responsibility of the Federal government but that there are key issues like immigration* and national defense where we really need to be paying attention.

I don't think that Fred thinks these are the only issues important in our lives, but that reducing the scale and cost of the Federal gov't in other areas will allow state and local governments (and individuals) to retain more power and resources to take care of other needs more effectively. Basically and constitutionally, a lot of other things that might be swell aren't the job of the Federal government.

(I'm not anti-immigrant but concerned about uncontrolled illegal immigration.)

Honestly, AGDee, I think you and I are pretty far apart politically just based on discussions on GC, and I'm not sure much of what Fred is about will appeal to you.

I think you are optimistic about the government being able provide additional services to people who need them, but I'm more cynical about what it can actually accomplish and more concerned about keeping most things as local as we can, so that the Federal government is there to protect our constitutionally granted Civil Rights and provide for a common defense but not much else.

ETA: There are, of course, other areas where I think that we need the federal gov't, but they are far fewer than most Presidential candidates are indicating they are interested in.