Herman Cain 2012

[SapereAude]

He's got an exploratory website up for the 2012 president's race.

http://www.hermancain.com/inner.asp?z=9

I've been following some of his stuff for a couple years now. Much of it encouraging, he's definitely pro-business.

That said, I don't know where he stands on many issues but think much of that will be brought to light in the next year.

[Black Wolf]

He is pretty socially conservative. When asked about gay marriage? He said he believes it should be defined as between one man and one woman.

He's not perfect, but such is politics.

[2046]

From what I've been able to discover, he's a Milton Friedman type of "libertarian" conservative candidate. He is a former CEO and fully opposes socialized medicine. He supports capitalism to the usual moderate extent, generally keep taxes and spending low, free trade, no price controls, privatize the post office, etc., but unfortunately supports the Federal Reserve (he was a former chairman and deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.) However he also claims to support "the gold standard," I guess the kind that is managed by the central bank post WWI-style. He supported affirmative action in 2004, and apparently opposes all abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. He supports Keynesian-type fiscal stimulus, but just believes Obama's wasn't "targeted" enough. He believes there are just "some things," economically-speaking, that the government should monopolize, roads, schools, etc., and still beleives the government can and should provide "some" kind of undefined minimum living standard. He supports the Friedmanite “voucher system” for public education. He supports the so-called "Fair Tax" (abolition of the income tax and replacing it with a consumption tax), and apparently supports "energy independence" and "restructuring Social Security," whatever that is supposed to mean. Don't know what kind of foreign policy views he has, aside from "a strong national defense."

[SapereAude]

From what I've been able to discover, he's a Milton Friedman type of "libertarian" conservative candidate. He is a former CEO and fully opposes socialized medicine. He supports capitalism to the usual moderate extent, generally keep taxes and spending low, free trade, no price controls, privatize the post office, etc., but unfortunately supports the Federal Reserve (he was a former chairman and deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.) However he also claims to support "the gold standard," I guess the kind that is managed by the central bank post WWI-style. He supported affirmative action in 2004, and apparently opposes all abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. He supports Keynesian-type fiscal stimulus, but just believes Obama's wasn't "targeted" enough. He believes there are just "some things," economically-speaking, that the government should monopolize, roads, schools, etc., and still beleives the government can and should provide "some" kind of undefined minimum living standard. He supports the Friedmanite “voucher system” for public education. He supports the so-called "Fair Tax" (abolition of the income tax and replacing it with a consumption tax), and apparently supports "energy independence" and "restructuring Social Security," whatever that is supposed to mean. Don't know what kind of foreign policy views he has, aside from "a strong national defense."

Odd, when I've seen him speaking about stimulus spending it has always been against.

I'm not surprised about his (alleged) stance on gay marriage and abortion since he is openly very Christian.

I'd be surprised if the Keynesian stuff turns out to be accurate- it seems too contradictory (but then again, this is politics).

It is unlikely we will see any candidates running on a fully capitalist platform. Half the population of this country has spent their entire lives as unwitting parasites and the brainwashing in our schools continues to normalize socialism as an acceptable alternative to what our country was founded on. Anyone threatening to stop the gravy train all together would be unelectable at this point.

[2046]

Okay, yeah it's a mistake to say he supports Keynesian fiscal stimulus necessarily. That was a misreading on my behalf. Wikipedia makes a big deal about his supporting "economic stimulus," but in the article it links to, he says he wants to use "direct stimulus," and thinks Obama's was too much spending. Given his comments on air, I think he means something like "targeted tax cuts will stimulate the economy." There's an article written by him that says "Most Americans realize that the surest form of economic stimulus is for the federal government to get out of the way. Raising taxes gets in everybody’s way, especially businesses."

Edited February 18, 2011 by 2046

[Maximus]

Just as long as we don't have O'ists voting for Obama again!

[FilmCriticOne]

Herman isn't saying anything differently than a dozen others -- plus his support of the Fairtax is troubling.

While Fairtax sounds wonderful, its fine print has a massive and hidden tax on city/state government that is quite preposterous. If Herman doesn't know that, shame on him. If he knows it, and pretends to support it, shame on him.

It's one thing to give a speech which can inflame the current passions, it's another to have rationally and carefully considered the positions you espouse. While Cain did not fabricate the Fairtax distorted fine print, he should have done due diligence on it. He is ready to give speeches, but he is not ready to examine issues honestly.

[softwareNerd]

Herman isn't saying anything differently than a dozen others ...

That's was my overall impression from his website: he's too much of a typical Republican. These are the people who were just as complicit as the Democrats in bringing us the current recession.

Of the Republicans that I see on TV etc., the only one whom I'd like to see as President with a GOP congress is Chris Christie. [Paul Ryan may be another, but I don't know enough about him.] Christ Christie is far from an ideal candidate, but at least he has displayed political courage in action on economic issues, and seems to go along with GOP social issues without much conviction. He insists that he will not run, and I'm not sure someone with that type of personality can win.