The Process: The Lesser of Two Evils
Our Board of Governors struggled with whether or not to endorse a candidate for President this year. There was no support for endorsing Donald Trump. I think, we might well have endorsed Nikki Haley, if she had been the candidate. A few insisted at first that we endorse no one. Everyone agreed that Harris is too far left for an enthusiastic endorsement from a centrist group. In the end, we decided to endorse Harris, while giving voice to our reservations about her left- wing record and impulses.
Her rhetoric, at least, has become more centrist. We understand that candidates will adjust their policy positions based on the constituency they hope to represent and that California is further left than America is as a whole. Her positions on foreign policy and respect for the independence of the Federal Reserve Board are consistent with our own. We disagree strongly with her positions on price controls and redistribution. For a review of the policy comparisons you can read some of the prior posts in this blog or go to the official CIVPAC endorsement for a more wide ranging comparison of Harris vs.Trump.
If Harris wins she is very likely to have to deal with a Republican Senate, which should force her administration to govern more from the center than she, or her party, might prefer. She appears to be sane and competent. We hope that she will recognize that victory in this election is no mandate to govern from the left.