I'm continuing my analysis of the Republican candidates with Romney and Gingrich. I'll go on to Santorum, Perry, and Paul, then conclude with Huntsman.
These three I have decided to group together as the "definitely incorrect but not actually total crackpots" grouping. They all have an annoying tendency to say that they think a matter should be up to individual states to decide themselves whenever an issue becomes difficult for them, but none of them have done anything that makes me genuinely question their mental faculties (and even that wouldn't necessarily make them completely unqualified for President. As happened with Bush and Cheney, as long as your vice-president is clever (albeit in this case evil) the world just about survives the ordeal).
Gingrich first. His website shows a lot about him. It is basically all about reducing taxes, with surprisingly little mention of the reduction in government spending that this would require. Perhaps he doesn't want to make it too easy for us to infer that his economic policies will lead to a reduction in AD and hence in economic output, just like Bachmann's would. He does actually state some views I agree with, and he actually accepts that renewable energy might be worth looking into. However, it is his ridiculously fierce opposition to "Obamacare" that puts him alongside Romney, instead of alongside Huntsman. He thinks it's anti-jobs, which it isn't. The NHS is the third biggest employer in the world, not that "Obamacare" is even half as good as the NHS though. The USA needs to get universally free healthcare soon, it doesn't take too long looking at infant mortality, life expectancy, etc. to realise that everyone else has actually got it right and the USA has got it wrong. Still, at least now that Gingrich owns "newt.org" Ken Livingstone can't.
Next, Romney. Romney actually started out as a nice Republican - he even used to be a fan of gay rights. Not any more! He says "the older I get, the smarter Ronald Reagan gets." I'm not a fan of Romney, but he's grouped here because I suspect that some of this is just maneuvering to try to appeal to the Republican base. My hope is that his actual views are a little more sane than those of Reagan, as would be suggested by his website, which gives a vaguely coherent economic plan. His position is of free trade (with the exception of China... obviously) and he wants to encourage the private sector, which is no bad thing - and his spending cuts shouldn't be as horrific as other candidates'.
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