If there’s a case to be made for Rudy Giuliani to be thought of as a conservative, I doubt it can be more comprehensive than this one put forward by Steven Malanga of City Journal*. Malanga takes a close look at Giuliani’s record on crime, welfare, tax policy, fiscal policy, and education as mayor and documents his hard-lined conservative policy stances in the face of loud opposition from liberal critics.
What Malanga’s article really shows is the extent that the Giuliani administration was defined by reactionary, if not borderline authoritarian, stances on how the executive branch should relate to policy concerns. There is no doubt that Rudy Giuliani was a very conservative mayor of New York City. But Giuliani’s actions raise serious concerns about what sort of government we want to follow the Bush administration. Giuliani is likely to continue many of the most anti-Constitutional policies of the Bush administration, notably redefining the powers of the executive branch at the expense of the judiciary and the legislature. That Giuliani would be a likely candidate to continue those policies is not necessarily a positive for him, even if he’s trying to shake the image of him as a moderate.
As I’ve said before, the more the American people learn about Rudy Giuliani, the less they will like him. That cuts both ways. While social conservative Republican base voters will continue to have major problems with Giuliani’s pro-gay rights, pro-abortion rights stances, more moderate voters are likely to disavow the Giuliani style of conservative governance in the face of growing executive branch, balance of powers crises under President Bush. Moreover, for Giuliani to overcome his moderate social positioning and win support from the Republican base, he will have to play up the authoritarian tendencies that will alienate him from moderate voters.
He’s in a tough spot and even if fawning pieces about his conservative credentials like this one from Malanga become more common, Giuliani will still have to walk a very thin tightrope to be legitimately viable with the Republican base.
*City Journal is the quarterly publication of the Manhattan Institute, a right-wing think tank. Elana notes in the comments that the Manhattan Institute (primarily scholar George Kelling) crafted the “Broken Windows” policing policy that defined the Giuliani administration’s draconian approach to crime fighting.
Technorati Tags: City Journal, Rudy Giuliani, Steven Malanga
3 Responses to “Giuliani The Conservative”
WHAT BULLSHIT TURN AROUND IN CRIME WAS RESULT IN BILL BRATTON POLICIES
AND WHEN HE STARTED TO GET CREDIT
THE PHONEY HERO OF 911 FIRED HIM,
THEN HIRED 2 CROOKS SAFER AND KERICK.
Something to say?
Just to be clear the whole Broken Windows theory of policing – that came from the Manhattan Institute. Much of Guiliani’s policy ideas came out of the Manhattan Institute.
Left by Elana
February 12, 2007 at 3:25pm