5 Reasons Why Jim Webb is the Most Reasonable Democrat Running for President

1. He strongly opposed the War on Iraq

Unlike Hillary Clinton, military veteran Jim Webb was an early critic of the War on Iraq. He said in a 2002 speech, “We should not occupy territory in Iraq. Do you really want the United States on the ground in that region for a generation? I don’t think Iraq is that much of a threat.” In 2004, he called the Iraq War “the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory.” He went on to become one of the biggest and well-respected critics of the Iraq War in the Senate.

Also unlike many other Democrats, Webb has still been critical of U.S. reckless foreign policy after Obama got elected. Recently, he said, “I would not have been the President who used military force in Libya during the Arab Spring. I warned repeatedly that this use of our military did not meet the test of a grave national security interest, that it would have negative implications for the entire region, and that no such action should take place without the approval of the Congress.”

It’s good to see some consistency.

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2. He’s pro-gun

Compared to most Democrats, Jim Webb is really good on Second Amendment issues. He has said, “I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment; I have had a permit to carry a weapon in Virginia for a long time; I believe that it’s important; it’s important to me personally and to a lot of people in the situation that I’m in to be able to defend myself and my family.” He’s received high ratings from the NRA. He voted yes on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains… which is not something you’d expect from a Democrat. He’s also co-sponsored a bill to ban gun registration and the trigger lock law in Washington, D.C.

3. He’s for criminal justice reform

“Secretary Clinton yesterday gave a speech on criminal justice reform — I’ve been talking about this for 9 years,” he told the press. To be fair, he has been talking about our broken criminal justice system for a long time. He was talking about crowded prison populations and the need to rehabilitate ex-offenders before it was fashionable to do so. In 2009, he said that marijuana legalization should be on the table in the effort to reform prisons. Let’s hope he talks about that more.

4. He wants to cut corporate taxes

OK. Keep in mind we’re talking about a Democrat here. Most of them want to raise corporate taxes so it’s rare to find one that wants to cut them. He recently said, “I care about fiscal responsibility. I think we need to look at tax reform overall in a streamlined way. I personally would support the notion of reducing the corporate taxes.” With the U.S. having the highest corporate tax rate in the world, reducing it would certainly help promote job growth.

5. He opposed Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy

Jim Webb voted against Obama’s plan to not extend the Bush-era tax cuts to those making over $250,000 a year. He was one out of only two Democrats in the Senate to do so. It’s not all good news because he prefers to raise taxes on dividends and capital gains instead. But it goes to show that he’s willing to go against the grain and says that he would never support raising taxes on ordinary income.

Of course, he’s taken some anti-liberty positions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way trying to say he’s an overall pro-liberty candidate–he’s just the most reasonable Democrat in the presidential race.

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