Rudy Giuliani: Reinvention, Reinvigoration, and Greater Freedom

Rudy Giuliani is out to win the 2008 presidential election by out campaigning his opponents. He speaks of reinvention, reinvigoration, and strategies to bring greater freedom to Americans. The Republican Party needs to remake and redefine itself in order to meet the challenges of the 21^st century, according to Giuliani. He says redefining our management of taxation, education reform, and entitlement reforms will give people more freedom.

Giuliani declares that he has been cancer-free for six years, and is extremely healthy and energetic. His campaign schedule includes five or six speeches, meetings, and fund-raisers, but he admits that they are still in an organizing stage. It is clear that Giuliani has not yet developed specific plans for dealing with important issues, but one thing is for sure: Giuliani believes that he has the experience, knowledge, and success in public service to become the next President of the United States.

Early polls placing Giuliani ahead of competitors, Clinton and McCain, surprise him a little, but he does not take polls too seriously. He is somewhat surprised because he feels his campaign got off to a late start, so he is pleased to be where they are. Giuliani hopes they are there at then end, but, like past presidential candidates, winning will depend on communicating a solid, comprehensive plan to the American people. Riding the campaign trail with stories about past successes will not be enough; America wants to know how he intends to build a better future for our country.

Giuliani will also have some explaining to do on a couple of past issues. Some people are questioning his flip to supporting free trade when he was clearly against NAFTA. Giuliani also defends his law firm's involvement with Citgo Petroleum Corporation, owned by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Giuliani's firm has been paid to lobby Texas legislators on behalf of Citgo, and according to Giuliani, it was to help save American jobs. Maria Cornella, a campaign spokesperson, said, "Mayor Giuliani believes Hugo Chavez is not a friend of the United States, and his influence continues to grow because of our increasing reliance on foreign sources of oil." Officials from the law firm said Giuliani has never had any involvement in this case and the only reason this has been brought up at all is because we are in an election campaign year.

What exactly does Rudy Giuliani say in all those campaign speeches? Here is some of what we have heard so far from Rudy Giuliani:

Economy

In a March 2007 interview with Kudlow & Company for Real Clear Politics, Giuliani stated, "probably what government can do best is to try to limit spending and try to bring down government spending. And it seems to me that's how the federal budget can have the best impact on the private economy." Giuliani believes the American economy is a strong economy, one of the strongest in the world. He also believes of the full-grown, mature global economies, ours is growing the fastest, but a couple others like China and India are growing faster. Giuliani believes President Bush's tax cuts are stimulating the economy and that Bush did not get the credit he deserved for that decision. He says positive economic growth comes from the private sector, and tax cuts enable the private sector to produce jobs and income.

Giuliani considers himself a supply-sider, convinced that the best policy for the United States is one of globalization and free market economics. He believes that America should market its' areas of strength and build new industries that can be sold to global markets. One such strength we could market better, according to Giuliani, is our Health Care. He believes we're in the lead and it's a product we can do a better job of selling, since people are coming to America for brain surgery and cancer treatment.

When asked in the interview for Real Clear Politics, about the recent surge in foreclosures resulting from sub-prime lending practices, and whether the government should step in, Giuliani responded, "very reluctantly, I would think." He admits that he does not know enough about this problem to give a detailed response, but says his instinct would be that Congress should stay out of it. Giuliani goes on to say, "It's kind of the natural thing in the market. So I'd rather have it correct itself and have Congress try to correct."

Taxes

Giuliani is against raising taxes. He is in favor of a low capital gains tax believing that if it is done right, the government will end up with more revenues. He is also against the death tax, calling it a double tax that hurts people who are not wealthy. Giuliani believes the entire federal tax code needs to be further simplified following Ronald Reagan's first simplification. He thinks we should have probably gone with a flat tax or maybe two levels of tax. Giuliani vowed, in a campaign speech to members of the Business and Industry Association Forum, that he will lower taxes if elected president. He also emphasized that over-regulating business is the same as overtaxing them. Giuliani contends that over-regulation pushes companies out of the country and reduces the number of jobs, thereby negatively impacting our overall economic growth.

Social Security

Giuliani believes people should have a choice in how their investment accounts are handled and supports a privatized Social Security system. According to a report by US News & World Report, Giuliani's senior economic policy advisor, Michael Boskin, says, "Giuliani agreed that long-term costs and solvency are an issue and that private accounts should be part of the solution." Giuliani believes the country should fix the Social Security system by allowing at least some part of the investment in private accounts.

Health Care

Giuliani said in a speech to the Hoover Institution, that our health care system is the best in the world because it is primarily private, market-drive, and profit motivated. He does admit that our health care system needs reform: it's too expensive, not accessible, too many lawsuits driving doctors out, and on and on. Giuliani believes that if the economy is growing, people can earn the living they need to buy their own health insurance. He believes this is a much healthier society and the government buying health insurance for people. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Giuliani said he would have no problem asking his wife, Judith Giuliani, to sit in on cabinet meetings. Giuliani welcomes his wife's input in policy decisions saying, "I couldn't have a better adviser." Judith adds that she would sit in on policy meetings if she were asked, and certainly in the area of health care.

Global Warming

Giuliani does not want to raise taxes to fund a global warming response initiative. His view is to create new industries that create jobs, and make sure other countries, like China and India, also have policies in place to combat global warming. Giuliani supports the development of alternative technologies like ethanol, and believes we need to devote resources to surpass Brazil's ethanol technology. He also believes we need to follow China's example to build more nuclear power plants in the United States. According to Giuliani, nuclear power is dangerous just like every other form of power, but nobody has died form nuclear power. We should have started building additional plants 30 years ago. According to Giuliani, China is building 40 new plants now, and India has deals in the works for building nuclear plants. Giuliani also believes we need to look at ways to store wind and solar energy, and expand our carbon sequestration technology. He is convinced that if we develop these technologies, then our energy independence will shift trade so that now, China and India will be buying things from us and not just us buying things from them.

The War on Terror

Giuliani believes we are spending too much time focusing on Iraq when the war on terror is bigger than that. He suggests Iran may be even more dangerous than Iraq. We must deal with Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to make sure we crush Al Qaeda, make sure the Taliban cannot re-establish their network, and catch Bin Laden. Giuliani believes Congress must stop looking at Iraq in a vacuum. He criticizes Democrats for opposing the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, and interrogating terror suspects. Giuliani believes America should seek an offensive approach to terrorism.

School Reform

Giuliani supports school voucher programs and criticizes unions and teachers for the failures in education. He believes having the right to choose a school is one of the great civil rights issues of our time. He believes public schools are designed to protect jobs rather than educate students. Schools have contracts that, by law, pay teachers whether they are good or not. He asks who is going to care more about the child, the parent or the public school system? He contends the Republican Party supports free choice in education thereby providing Americans more freedom in social programs.

You can watch a video of Rudy Giuliani's position on these and other issues like Welfare Reform, Foreign Policy, Incentive Pay, and Iraq Policy Leadership at the FORACAST TV web site. This is his speech to Hoover Institute.

Sources:

AFL-CIO web site

FORACAST TV

MSNBC.com

Real Clear Politics