peterkim blog

I am writing this because I promised someone a post on why I think Mike Huckabee would be the worst Republican presidential candidate in a long time. He’s my least favorite Republican candidate for 2008, except for maybe Ron Paul, who I think might be even worse.

There’s one word that summarizes why I think he’d be a terrible candidate: populist.

Here’s a snippet from the wikipedia entry on populism: Populism is the use of discourses, ideas or policies which try to appeal to “the people” by setting up a dichotomy between “the people” and “the elite”. This populist appeal to “the people” has often been associated with an emotional appeal to identities, including national, class, ethnic and regional ones.

I’ve heard and read a lot of populist rhetoric coming from Mike Huckabee. Why do I dislike populism so much? Because I believe populism is rooted in fear and a desire to maintain the status quo.

A major element of many populist movements has been nationality and race. With regards to Huckabee’s politics, he’s taken up the cause of those in America who are afraid of immigrants “stealing” their jobs: some of this is based on a genuine fear of losing jobs, but often also involves blatant racism and xenophobia. Here is his official stance on immigration: “The Secure America Plan”. The fact is that immigrants contribute significantly to the nation’s economy, rather than being a burden on it. Also, the notion that illegal immigrants are security threats is way overblown; most of them are just here to earn an honest living. Trying to build a fence, increasing border patrols and characterizing practical plans to deal with the immigration problems as “amnesty” clearly display his efforts to pander to these xenophobes. Maybe Huckabee should try living in Queens for a year to actually get to know some immigrants.

Populism has also often been strong in agricultural areas. I am very disturbed by his strong support of agricultural subsidies. One way that the United States is a terrible world citizen and causes pain to tens if not hundreds of millions of people living in the developing world is its farm subsidies. These farm subsidies prevent farmers from developing countries from competing against the United States. They are also extremely expensive and cost the American taxpayer a significant amount that could be put to better use. The fears around not having a safe food supply if we rely on food grown in other countries are also overblown.

I am also wary of the way that Huckabee talks about his faith. He has become the preferred candidate of evangelical Christians and the Religious Right. I’m realizing more and more that the Religious Right’s actions during the 80s and 90s have had a major hand in the growth in the animosity against Christianity and religion in general. Unfortunately, Jesus has become tied to the policies of the Republican Party; in a lot of people’s minds, becoming a Christian means having to become a Republican. I think if Huckabee becomes president, this increase in animosity against Christianity and Christians will continue.

That last paragraph might come as a surprise to you, coming from me, but it really shouldn’t. I am a Christian and I am also a Republican, but I am NOT a Republican because I am a Christian. I am a Republican because I believe in small government, lower taxes and free markets. None of these have anything to do with my religion.

This isn’t a comprehensive write up of why I am so strongly opposed to Huckabee’s candidacy, but I hope it is a sufficiently reasonable one. If he wins the Republican ticket, I might not vote in 2008. Or I will hope that Michael Bloomberg runs as an independent candidate (not that I agree with him on all the issues but I most certainly agree with him more than Huckabee).