Wednesday, 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).

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