January 25, 2012

Newt Gingrich the Jacksonian

By Burwell Stark
Since the start of his campaign, Newt Gingrich has cast himself as a man of the people and a Reagan Republican.  Newt resembles a former president, all right, but it is not Reagan.  Newt Gingrich seems to be a 21st-century return of President Andrew Jackson. This thought first occurred to me in the aftermath of Gingrich's assertion that, as president, he would ignore the Supreme Court, a sentiment similar to a phrase attributed to Andrew Jackson: "[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."  Eventually I saw five ways in which Gingrich is similar to Jackson.  They are his: 1. ambition, 2. appeal as a populist, 3. history of dealing with the national debt, 4. judicial mistrust, and 5. belief in the supremacy of states' rights (when convenient). Ambition In and of itself, ambition is not bad, especially when it is tempered with restraint. Jackson was born and raised in rural western North Carolina.  He practiced law on the...(Read Full Article)