Recently attention has been given to the lack of fiscal discipline among the GOP now that they are in power. Such as the story
CATO: GOP loves big government. As the blogger for the
Democratic Freedom Caucus, a liberal-libertarian group of Democrats, I'm very interested in how the Republican Party compares to their rhetoric. I previously created a scorecard for House members based on their votes on
social and
economic issues, and recently I've turned to the Senate. If you are interested on the results of the
social issues check out the DFC's blog. I just finished the economic issues and because it relates to the discussion on the Cato Institute, Republicans, libertarians, and the like, I wanted to post it here first.
I first want to explain the approach to the scorecard. The DFC is organized to encourage libertarians to join the Democratic Party and to encourage the Democratic Party to take a more libertarian stance on issues. We believe in free and fair markets, efficiently run government at a low cost to the taxpayer, civil liberties, and peace abroad.
Part of the problem we are fighting is the common misconception that libertarians are right-wing and should vote either for the Libertarian Party or the Republican Party. The Republican Liberty Caucus is an organization formed to encourage libertarians to join the GOP, and the DFC has very often been ruthlessly attacked for daring to offer an alternative view of what's the best choice for libertarian-leaning voters. These attacks are not only reserved for the DFC, the RLC feels that the Libertarian Party is a major obstacle to progressing libertarian issues. If you think some Democrats were hostile to Greens and Nader voters after 2000, you should see some of the things RLC members say about the LP.
The attempt by the DFC to make their own scorecard came out of discussions with the RLC, which already has their own scorecard. Their scorecard is a total joke, it heavily inflates the scores of Republicans; Senators Jesse Helms and Trent Lott have been labeled as Libertarian. And the most Libertarian Democrat, according to the RLC? Why Senator Zell Miller, of course.
So started the DFC's scorecard, which wouldn't be designed to favor Democrats, but instead offer a realistic assessment of which candidates are libertarian friendly. When constructing the economic votes a great effort was made to be absolutely neutral in selecting votes. For the Senatorial scorecard ten votes were selected. Because Senators serve for a longer term in office three votes from the 107th Congress were included, and the new Senators in the 108th Congress were only scored on the votes they could have voted on. We also didn't give people the benefit of the doubt if they weren't there to vote. As Senators their job is to vote. Being absent was the same as voting against the scorecard.
Vote 1: 2001 Bush Tax Cuts: May 26, 2001
Like I said, this was designed to be neutral and the expectation was that Democrats were do poorly. No punches were pulled.
Vote 2: No Child Left Behind: December 18, 2001
A huge expansion of government intervention, unfunded mandate forced on local and state governments causing higher property taxes, what's not to hate?
Vote 3: Farm Bill: May 8, 2002
We're opposed to pork barrel agricultural subsidies.
Vote 4: Across the Board Cuts: January 17, 2003
This was a vote on an amendment introduced by Senator Byrd that would repeal the across the board cuts that had been put into place in the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution.
Vote 5: Highway Spending: March 21, 2003
An amendment was introduced by several Senators to increase highway spending by borrowing money from the general revenue. We say no.
Vote 6: Defense Spending: July 16, 2003
Senator McCain attempted to remove from the Defense Appropriations Act spending that the Pentagon hadn't even asked for. Too bad it was defeated.
Vote 7: Cuba Travel Ban: October 23, 2003
As mentioned in another diary 2004 Libertarian Candidate Frank Gonzalez will be running again in the 21st District of Florida in 2006 against Lincoln Díaz-Balart, but this time as a Democrat. The Cuba Travel Ban is one of the major issues for him, and we agree that it needs to go.
Vote 8: Congressional Pay Raises: October 23, 2003
There's no reason for Congress to be getting pay raises when we have a growing deficit and many Americans can't find jobs.
Vote 9: Medicare Prescription Drugs: November 25, 2003
We oppose big subsidies to pharmaceutical companies.
Vote 10: USA-Morocco FTA: July 21, 2004
Maybe you don't like free trade and you're calling your Senator to vote against CAFTA. We like free trade, especially with poor countries that need to be connected to the global market. Like I said, this scorecard wasn't supposed to be Democrat friendly.
And the results . . .
The highest Senator was Senator Sununu of New Hampshire, home of the Free State Project, with 85.71%. Other high scorers included Senator Thomas of Wyoming (70%), Senator Ensign of Nevada (70%), Senator Hagel of Nebraska (70%), Senator Grassley of Iowa (70%), Senator Allard of Colorado (70%), Senator McCain of Arizona (70%), and Senator Feingold of Wisconsin (70%).
If you're interested in how a specific Senator voted, feel free to ask, but I'm not going to waste more space by putting up all of the results. I will say that the average Economic score for the GOP was 48.75, while for the Democrats was 31.66. You may take this as a sign that the Democratic Party is too far to the right on economic issues, but my opinion is that the Democratic Party isn't the knee jerk party in favor of big government spending just for the sake of more government.
Keep an eye on the DFC Blog for a summary of the scorecard as a whole. I'll discuss the highest ranking Senators, how the two parties compare, and thoughts on 2006.
Oh, and only one Senator scored high enough on both social and economic issues to be labeled a libertarian, and it's not a Republican.
Can you guess who?