Political positions of George W. Bush
Encyclopedia
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's political positions have been expressed in public statements, and through his actions as President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

.

Fiscal policy and taxation

George Bush supports enacting generous tax cuts in the model of Ronald Reagan's supply-side
Supply-side economics
Supply-side economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering barriers for people to produce goods and services, such as lowering income tax and capital gains tax rates, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing...

 fiscal policies. He believes this helps the economy at large.

Energy policy

George Bush supports nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 and expanded domestic drilling. Bush pledged to work toward reduced reliance on foreign oil by reducing fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...

 consumption and increasing alternative fuel
Alternative fuel
Alternative fuels, known as non-conventional or advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels...

 production. He lifted a ban on offshore drilling
Offshore drilling
Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...

 in 2008, and said at the time, "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

." Bush had said in June 2008, "In the long run, the solution is to reduce demand for oil by promoting alternative energy technologies. My administration has worked with Congress to invest in gas-saving technologies like advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel cells... In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil. And that means we need to increase supply, especially here at home. So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand domestic oil production."

In 2008, Bush announced that the United States would commit $2 billion towards an international fund to promote clean energy technologies, saying, "along with contributions from other countries, this fund will increase and accelerate the deployment of all forms of cleaner, more efficient technologies in developing nations like India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, and help leverage substantial private-sector capital by making clean energy projects more financially attractive."

Free-market capitalism

Bush generally supports free-market capitalism, but claims to understand the importance of government involvements in private financial affairs if they are projected to have a negative impact on the economy as a whole. In November 2008, Bush claimed, "Our aim should not be more government. It should be smarter government."

During the beginning of his first term, Bush enacted corporate tax cuts in the hopes that the economy would flourish as a result. Later, in 2008, Bush supported major bailout plans for mortgage lenders and auto makers who were facing bankruptcy. Bush also enacted the first major economic stimulus in the face of an economy on the down-turn, which handed free checks to all private tax-paying citizens.

Health care

Bush supports a free-market health care system, and opposes a universal health plan
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...

.

In 2004, Bush planned a health care program that he said would cover as many as 10 million people who lack health insurance at a cost of $102 billion over the next decade.

Iraq War

On March 19, 2003, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

, launching the Iraq War. That night, he addressed the nation, stating that he decided to invade Iraq "to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger".
The United States and its allies charged that
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's government possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and thus posed a serious and imminent threat to the security of the United States and its coalition allies. This assessment was supported by the U.K. intelligence services, but not by other countries such as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Iran

Bush had declared Iran part of the "axis of evil" for its use of nuclear weapons and support of the group Hezbollah responsible for the Beirut Barracks bombing and Khobar Towers bombing.

Homeland security

After the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, President Bush founded the Department of Homeland Security to better defend the homeland.

Anti-terrorism and domestic surveillance

Bush is a supporter of anti-terrorist surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

 and information-gathering methods (see U.S. PATRIOT Act).

Habeas Corpus

The November 13, 2001, Presidential Military Order
Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism
On November 13, 2001 U.S. President George W. Bush issued a Military Order entitled Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism.The order:#Defines which individuals the President considers subject to the order....

 gave the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 the power to detain suspects, suspected of connection to terrorists or terrorism as an unlawful combatant
Unlawful combatant
An unlawful combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a civilian who directly engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war. An unlawful combatant may be detained or prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action.The Geneva Conventions apply in wars...

. As such, it was asserted that a person could be held indefinitely without charges being filed against him or her, without a court hearing, and without entitlement to a legal consultant. Many legal and constitutional scholars contended that these provisions were in direct opposition to habeas corpus and the United States Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...

.

Flag burning

Bush supports a constitutional amendment
Constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...

 banning flag burning.

Gun control

While Bush has supported regulated gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...

, he generally supports guns; in June 1999 he said he opposed requiring child-safety locks on guns; and supported concealed carrying permits.

Abortion

Bush has a strong pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...

 stance, consistently opposing abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

 while supporting parental notification for minor girls who want abortions, the Mexico City Policy
Mexico City Policy
The Mexico City Policy, also known by critics as the Mexico City Gag Rule and the Global Gag Rule, was an intermittent United States government policy that required all non-governmental organizations that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services, as a...

, a ban on intact dilation and extraction
Intact dilation and extraction
Intact dilation and extraction is a procedure done in late term abortion. It is also known as intact dilation and evacuation, dilation and extraction , intrauterine cranial decompression and, vernacularly in the United States, as partial birth abortion...

 (commonly known as partial-birth abortion), adoption tax credits, and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act
Unborn Victims of Violence Act
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 is a United States law which recognizes a "child in utero" as a legal victim, if he or she is injured or killed during the commission of any of over 60 listed federal crimes of violence...

.

Death Penalty

Bush supports the death penalty. As governor of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 he allowed 152 executions. Bush commuted the sentence of one prisoner on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...

, Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas was an American criminal, convicted of murder in 189 cases and once listed as America's most prolific serial killer; he later recanted his confessions, despite professing information only the assailant would know and flatly stating "I'm a liar" in a letter to researcher Brad Shellady...

, on June 15, 1998.

Environment

Bush opposed the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...

, saying that the treaty neglected and exempted 80 percent of the world's population and would have cost tens of billions of dollars per year. Bush announced the Clear Skies Act of 2003, aimed at amending the Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act
A Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...

 to reduce air pollution through the use of emissions trading
Emissions trading
Emissions trading is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants....

 programs. The initiative was introduced to Congress, but failed to make it out of committee.

Bush has said that global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

 is real and has noted that it is a serious problem, but he asserts there is a "debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused". He announced plans to reaffirm the United States' commitment to work with major economies, and, through the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, to complete an international agreement that will slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

es; he stated, "this agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride."

LGBT issues

Bush opposes same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

. During his 2004 reelection campaign
George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2004
This article is about the presidential campaign of George W. Bush, the former President of the United States and winner of the 2004 Presidential Election. See George W. Bush for a detailed biography and information about his full presidency, and George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000 for a...

, he called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage
Federal Marriage Amendment
The Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...

 in the United States but allow for the possibility of civil unions on the state level. He also stated in the famous Wead tapes that he would not "kick gays" and worried his refusal to do so might upset his evangelical supporters, and that "I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays."

Prayer in public schools

Bush supported "voluntary, student-led prayer" but not "teacher-led prayers."

Stem cell research

Bush opposes federal funding for embryonic
Embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...

 forms of stem cell
Stem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...

 research.

Medical marijuana and marijuana decriminalization

Bush opposes medical marijuana and marijuana decriminalization.

Internet Neutrality

Bush opposes Network Neutrality
Network neutrality
Network neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the Internet...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK