Bush, Kerry, Airplanes

Sam Byrams wrote:

But-be honest-is there any reason I should prefer Bush over Kerry
from an aviation standpoint? Bush, a nonpilot as far as I'm concerned,
has done nothing for aviation in this country. Kerry isn't likely to
either, but how much worse could he be?

They are both going to be causing pop-up TFRs as they campaign all over
the country. I'm in Central North Carolina and when Edwards was picked
I thought "hmm, that will make flight planning around here more
interesting." NC was never a battleground state before so was usually
only graced with presidential presence when there was money to be
raised. We aren't used to having a lot of TFRs around here.

As far as I can tell, neither Bush nor Kerry really considers supporting
or oppressing GA to be much of a priority. I really doubt GA is on
either candidate's radar screen. They'll probably leave GA policy to
minions, who will probably be more politically ideological than the
bosses because they will be patronage political appointees.

We already know the views of Bush's people on this: security paranoid,
not real interested in due process (this doesn't just affect Gitmo
detainees, see the pilot insecurity rules), eager to privatize the
government including the FAA and FSS (would probably give the whole ATC
system to Halliburton if they could). But their tax cuts make it
easier to buy airplanes, which you may not be able to fly very much as a
result of their other policies.

On the other hand, a Kerry administration would probably keep FAA a
public service, would not be as paranoid with security, would push
localities to keep their airports from private developers, but their tax
and regulatory policies will probably make it harder to buy airplanes
which you would probably be able to fly more freely if you could buy one.

So as far as the presidential candidates and GA go, it's six of one,
half dozen of another. I don't think the interests of GA will be much
of a factor in determining my vote, and it probably shouldn't be for you
either. Most likely people will see it from the prism of their general
views. If you are a Republican you probably think Bush is better for
GA, and if you are a Democrat you probably think Kerry is.

So for everyone, it's going to come down to general philosophy. From
what I see on the newsgroups, GA pilots tend to be conservative and
Republican (my primary flight instructor was a Republican candidate for
U.S. Congress in 2002), which doesn't surprise me given that it's
probably a group that skews wealthier.

However, in my opinion Republican GA pilots are in total denial over how
much their hobby depends on government subsidies and government
intervention. The same people who demand less taxes or less regulation
in general are right there demanding that the feds do something about
the closure of Meigs field or put more subsidy into their local
municipal airport. Yeah, some try to feed their denial by fooling
themselves into thinking that the tax they pay on AVGAS funds it all
(even the ones that don't buy AVGAS say that , but the reality is that
GA is a pretty heavily subsidized activity that we would not be able to
enjoy without significant government subsidy and intervention.

That said, this wouldn't be enough to make me a Democrat if I weren't
already one though. I just wouldn't fool myself into thinking that I'm
not being a hypocrite by partaking of such massive government subsidy
and support while proclaiming that we need less government.

At any rate GA is one of very many issues I base my vote on, and it's
not even in the top 10 of importance.