Topic: Election 2008
A Clear and Present Choice Why John McCain is clearly the only option for Commander-in-Chiefby R.J. Moeller
(conservative)
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
"The ability to discern what laws and policies best safeguard the dignity and rights of the citizens depends upon a careful inquiry in which intelligence is tutored by experience and reflection guided by an instinct for the right and the good."
-Cardinal Avery Dulles
Would you say that this quote accurately describes any of the politicians you know? I've been at a loss this past week, racking my brain for any current political figure that fully embodies Mr. Dulles's insightful categorization. However, the more I thought about it, what did eventually come to mind was that it partly describes Barack Obama and partly describes John McCain. Your response to which of the two parts you prefer in a leader will likely predict your vote come next Tuesday.
We'd like to think that the people representing our district, our state, and our nation are the best and brightest around. Ten minutes of watching the floor of Congress on C-SPAN and a brief scan of the average politician's dossier clears that misnomer right up. We on one hand do need to be respectful to and grateful for those who voluntarily choose to represent us. But it must be remembered that since we are the ones who put politicians into office, we are their bosses. They work for us and we truly do get the leaders (and subsequent policies they enact) we deserve.
So what do the American voters of 2008 deserve, you ask? Will the future leaders of this country, come November 5th, be up to the challenge Avery Dulles has articulated above? As far as the selection of our next Commander-in-Chief goes, here are some points of contemplation.
The junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, has intelligence. This fact no one refutes. Intelligence is a valued commodity to be sure, and often reflects a mixture of a God-given capacity to learn and an inner-drive that propels the smart student to become a brilliant one. Obama was a stellar scholar from all accounts and without knowing the man personally, I will concede that his persona of being an extremely smart guy is accurate.
Grades alone can be deceiving in the perception of someone's intellect, and vice versa, as was the case in 2004 when it was finally revealed that the purportedly stoic and allegedly cerebral John Kerry had in fact received lower grades at Yale than did George W. Bush. At any rate, grades and scholastic achievements certainly do matter and Obama has the stats to back up the charge of being an intellectually gifted politician.
But is intelligence alone enough? Experience, the thing John McCain appropriately made his campaign about back in the summer months when he began to overtake Obama's sizeable lead in the polls, is intelligence's "guide" and superior. Experience, in this context, insinuates a high level of intelligence to begin with. Experience is the map by which one navigates the tumultuous waters of life, especially political life. To rise as high in our political system as John McCain has you simply cannot be dumb. As much fun as it was for intellectual midgets like John Stewart, Michael Moore, and any one of the three Dixie Chicks to mock President Bush these past years, the fact is that no dumb person could ever make it to the White House. They might be unwise, but they could never be dumb.
Of course experience alone isn't enough. I have more than 20 years of experience being a baseball fan of the stupidest team on the planet, yet return to the television set come each new Opening Day when they take the field at Wrigley. I shouldn't be trusted with the managing of a Fantasy Baseball team. Or how about the 20 years of experience I have of always getting heartburn after eating post-midnight deep-dish pizza leftovers, yet still doing it every chance I get and complaining of it afterwards? I shouldn't be trusted with a Tombstone. Evidently the quality of experience one has, and what they subsequently do with it, matters a great deal.
John McCain's experience includes more than 20 years in the United States Navy and more than 20 years in the United States Congress. You might say it is experience we can believe in. The man was a decorated fighter pilot, prepared other soldiers for combat, and led squadrons of men into battle. The story of his years as a POW is as well documented as it is under-appreciated. Service to one's country alone doesn't make you honorable, as John Kerry proved, but it does speak to the heart of a man's character.
Likewise in the Senate, McCain has personally authored more than 50 bills that eventually became laws. Most of his most well known pieces of legislation were co-authored by Democrats. Obama has 3 bills to his name, none with Republicans. McCain might have voted 90% of the time with a president who has a 30% approval rating, but Obama has a clear record of voting 98% of the time with a Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid-led Congress that boasts a 10% approval rating. Clearly the experience of McCain, the kind tested in battles both literal and figurative these past 40 years in public service to his nation, trumps whatever book smarts The One might possess. (Sorry Oprah and Kanye.)
But there still remains to be addressed the second pairing of "reflection guided by an instinct for the right and the good" that Dulles cites as a desired qualification for our political leaders.
I have read both of Barack Obama's memoirs.....(continued here)
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article are those of R.J. Moeller only and do not represent
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It's good to see a conservative guy posting on here. I wouldn't agree with you on everything, but we need somebody to balance out Master C.
You make some good points in your article, but you don't acknowledge third parties at all. You act like it's only a contest between Obama and McCain. I know the chances of a third-party candidate taking the presidency are amazingly small, but there's more to racing than winning, especially in a corrupt system.
With a media that does little more than ridicule third parties, entrenched incumbent candidates from the major parties, and legislation like McCain-Feingold that protect incumbents (it takes a huge amount of money, more than $2300 a person to unseat an incumbent), the deck is systematically stacked in favor of Republicans and Democrats.
I do have to admit that McCain scares me less than Obama, especially in light of his 2001 comments about how the civil rights movement failed in that it didn't start redistributing wealth.
But I also realize that the Republicans and Democrats are bad news combined. You praise McCain for 'reaching across the aisle', but 'bipartisan' isn't the good thing you think it is, my friend.
Nazi is short for National Socialist. Republicans are the Nationalists, Democrats are the Socialists. Therefore in our country bipartisan=Nazi.
For the major parties to get their agendas on the table, they have to compromise, to scratch each other's backs. To get war funding, the neoconservatives must vote for socialism. To get socialism, the neoliberals must vote for the wars.
I can't hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils any more. I just can't. The lesser of two evils is just too damned evil.
"or to be INEXPERIENCED and have GOOD JUDGMENT (like Obama)? "
What? GOOD JUDGEMENT?!?!
What, like hanging out with a radical college professor that got off of bombing the pentagon and police stations on a technicality?
Or advocating invading nuclear-armed Pakistan?
Or attending a church where some guy spouts off all kinds of crap for 20 YEARS, how could he not know what Wright was all about?
Or advocating redistribution of wealth and trying to pretend that's not called socialism, and that it ends in anything but misery for the poorest among us?
This guy doesn't know Thailand from Taiwan in an age where the Chinese are rising to superpower status.
I appreciate your comments and understand what you are saying...you're simply living in a reality that doesnt exit. I say that with respect, and not disdain. 3rd parties mean nothing today. That is the tough truth. I wish they did, but the dont. I wish all Republicans were a combination of Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul, but they arent. I wish Democrats were more like Truman or JFK, but they arent. Things are bad in politics these days, no doubt...but the answer isnt to throw the system away by handing control over to Obama who we KNOW will be a wreck to our economy and republic. McCain isnt perfect. He isnt prefect. I'll say it again, he isnt perfect.
But Obama is literally the opposite of everything this country stands for and was founded upon. I know people are throwing the term socialist around alot these days, but he is even worse...he is a Marxist. I hate to use the analogy, but its almost like choosing between Stalin or Hitler here. We need the immediate defeat of the far worse foe, but the Republican party needs a house-cleaning as well.
The root of the problem is what I'm interested in: the education of our youth (and truly, of most adults). We learn about liberalism from liberals in schools and the media...but we also learn about conservatism and libertarianism from liberals. No one knows what is really going on. No one cares. They want free stuff and to be also be left alone and not bothered. We really are turning into Europe. I believe that WWI and WWII so traumatized that continent that they then committed three fatal (if not somewhat understandable given the circumstances) errors: 1)They gave up on God and religion after seeing the horrors of so much war and devastation 2)They no longer wanted to fight evil, but looked at fighting as evil ....and 3)They wanted to give their kids and future generataions the things they didnt have and put a higher priority on comfort and vacationing, etc than on hardwork, self-reliance,etc that has generally typified the American spirit for 200 years.
The uniquely pathetic thing is that america hasnt had to live through those type of atrocities in our own backyard and we're still willing to give up on self-government and wrap ourselves in the deceptively-alluring blanket of big government. I see liberalism/socialism as a white flag to the pressures and responsiblities of free-market democracy and self-government. The Left and its belief system and values are laziness personified. You work and they take and someone else gets. Its a joke, and a shockingly bad joke at that. Americans are buying it too, and sadly Republicans these past 8 years have in some respects jumped on the govt-subsidized bandwagon.
I assume you are more libertarian, and that is fine. We agree on many things, and the debate should be between your camp and my camp on the Right. The Left (and more so the ideas and ideologies involved) are not interested in fixing this country, they want to CHANGE it. You and I likely agree that this country needs fixing, not a turn to European socialism.
I know I'll hear back from you and others after all I've written here and it will only be to attack me for either being naive about the problems inside the GOP or for disparaging 3rd parties....but know this: I love my country. I believe in the vision of the founders. I believe in free markets and liberty. I believe that the phrase "endowed by our Creator" is one of the most important ever put to paper in human history. My allegiance is not to the GOP. I am a conservative in the Barry Goldwater/Reagan tradition. I love FA Hayek and Milton Friedman economics. I love CS Lewis and GK Chesterton theology. I cherish property rights and as much autonomy from my govt as is possible. McCain is a means to an end. I am compelled to vote, there are two legitimate candidates, and one represents my views infinitely better than the other. A vote for a 3rd party is a vote for Obama. That is what it is. You can rationalize it however you want, you can lay the blame at my feet for being complicent in the liberalization of the GOP in the last 8 years, and that is all fine and good but we'll be too busy working longer hours for less pay to foot the bill of a new socialist utopia under Barack The One Obama for it to matter.
Thats my two cents. Thanks for reading. God Bless.
What did this silver-spoon pretend-naughty mama's boy ever do but bomb babies in Vietnam then get hmself stupidly shot down with a rifle, and abandon his first wife when she became inconvenient like a gigolo?
His legislative record is almost unremmiting Manchurian candidate social-fascism, including restrictions on free spech and 3rd parties via the election laws.
The guy hates the free market and admits he doesn't understand the economy.
But I see bigots love him, though, though wary because he has the sense to distance himself from the ndorsement of neo-Nazi apocalyptic nutxases like Rev. Hagee...
Well done. You've brought a lot to the discussion and you are a credit to your candidate, party, and country. Glad to know we've produced fine minds like yours in the American public school system. The level of your ignorance and misinterpretation of the "facts" is staggering. Keep up the good work and stay away from the combination of high-powered rifles and bell towers.
Let me further explain why I don't feel a third party vote is a vote for Obama.
First, I don't think Obama can completely ruin the nation in four years. He can wreak some serious havoc, but not totally ruin it. There is a silver lining to all this though--If Obama makes a big enough mess, a new generation will learn that socialism does not work. The GOP will have to realize that caving to socialists within the party to 'reach across the aisle' to other voters does not work.
Obama may just be the next Carter. It was Jimmy Carter's immense failure that gave us Reagan. The American voters came to their senses for a time after seeing how bad things can get.
I don't think that can happen if McCain wins. The New Hamphsire socialist big-government Republicans will say "Ah hah! We knew it! We were right!" and the Republican party will continue it's slide into evil. Who's next? Will Lieberman join the party and run on it's ticket next time?
The McCain campaign has been so busy brainwashing Sarah Palin, she doesn't know up from down anymore. She knows politics, and if they had left her alone she would have trounced all over the press and Biden. They ruined her.
Maybe if they lose she will recover and become the next Reagan. Once again, if McCain wins, I don't think that can happen.
GOOD! Because we have a lot to do. You! (the American people) are going to have to take back control of your elected government at every level, and set your government back on the right path of service to you, and the greater good of the World.
Barack Obama and the democrats are your best hope of doing that now. Tell your family, friends, and everyone you know to support them as best they can. Because the Bush McCain vote fraud, vote cheating, vote buying, vote manipulation machine is already hard at work to cheat you again. And we all know what a disaster that has been the past 8 years of Bush McCain.
Barack Obama and the democrats will need all the power you can give them at every level of government (Federal, State, County, and local City elected governments). Obama and the democrats will have an enormous mess to fix for the American people, and the rest of the World. A mess caused by the corrupt Bush McCain administration.
You see, starting back in 2000, and before 911, it was mostly the Republican governors, Republican legislatures, and county elected Republican officials that conspired with the corrupt Bush McCain administration to raise college, and university tuitions by the fastest, and highest rate increases in American history. Some state tuitions went up by as much as a WHOPPING! 30% in one year.
The reason the Bush McCain administration did this was to force struggling working class kids into the military to pay for the sudden jump in tuition. Which was forced on them by the corrupt Bush McCain administration, and their corrupt Republican Governors, and republican controlled state legislatures.
See, Bush McCain had plans to get us into all these immoral, foolish, criminal, and unnecessary wars from the start. So they could use these wars to seize power, and later to get reelected. But, for their evil plan to work they needed more volunteer soldiers struggling to pay for an education whose blood they could spill to help them seize more power. Remember Bush McCain's "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" theatrics.
The exploitation, and lost lives of these finest Americans is despicable, disgusting, immoral, corrupt and criminal. And it makes me SICK, and ANGRY!
You will have to vote for Obama, and the democrats in overwhelming numbers to overcome the Bush McCain vote fraud machine. Vote early if you can. Then help your fellow Americans cast their votes now, and on through election day. Vote for Obama, and the democrats like your life, and the lives of your loved ones depends on it. Because it does. You will not survive 4 more years of "Let Them Eat Cake" Bush McCain, and their republican allies.
Just look at the mess we have now.
You can fix this mess with your votes for Obama, and the democrats. And REMEMBER, no matter which of us may stumble or fall, the rest of you must continue to surge forward for Barack Obama, and the democrats, and for your-selves most of all. The children, and the World are counting on us.
It's in your hands now. And I know you will get it done.
I hope you never go to Washington. You are categorically wrong about almost everything you said. The problem with Republicans the last 8 years is that they acted like liberals instead of conservatives (or even libertarians). Barack Obama is a sham. He is the most unqualified candidate for the most important office we've ever had. This is a joke. The emperor is wearing no clothes. He's done NOTHING to prove he can even do the silly things you want. What is this obsession with a man who has done nothing? I'd get it even if it were Hillary, but it's like there is some big inside joke liberals are playing on the American people to see if they can get the least qualified, furthest Left candidate possible elected...and do it under the guise that he is a moderate, middle of the road, blue collar politician.
He's the most liberal voting senator. He's a millionaire just like the rest of them, which I dont even care about, but is a fact. He gave 1% of his income to charity while telling the rest of us we dont pay our fair share. He is proposing Marxism in his economic policies, and head-in-the-sand foreign policy. Bush made HUGE mistakes, but they were over-spending, unwillingness to increase troop levels, etc......the very things Obama proudly promises. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
If you are working class and support Obama you either know nothing about how the economy works, or are so set in your ways on the social issues (i.e. abortion) that nothing can be done to convince you that your choice for Commander-in-Chief is less qualified than Sarah Palin (the woman I presume most of you despise).
Liberty is more important than equality. Justice does not equal re-distribution of income. Life isnt fair, and our govt only owes us the right to be as free from dependence on it as possible and protection from enemies at home and abroad. Obama made it in the free markey system we have, worked his way impressively to the top, has a nice home and best-selling books, is likely set to become the leader of the free world.....and his response is to turn around and say to all of us "working class" people he is supposedly one of that we cant make it without his benevolence and wisdom. Its called Marxism. Enjoy it.
The government that can give you everything you want is the government that can take all you have. Liberty trumps equality.
Just so that you don't miss the obvious, here are some points to consider:
1) Barack Obama has been scrutinized by magazines, newspapers, radio and tv commentators, other candidates, his opposition, political blogs, and the news media for more than 21 months. Books have been written both about him and by him, innumerable articles and feature stories have covered every aspect of his life – and his family – so that he has been thoroughly analyzed, discussed, and investigated.
2) Barack Obama has been in 29 national debates, televised and broadcast by very capable questioners, he toured all 50 states and several special provinces as he went through 53 primary elections so that his views on every issue that someone wanted to question him about were analyzed, discussed, and evaluated.
3) Barack Obama has put forth very detailed, comprehensive, specific programs on 26 different subjects from energy to poverty to the (so-called) war in Iraq. He discusses each program in detail, and spells out how it will be funded on his website.
4) Barack Obama has attracted and recruited very highly-respected and capable people to assist him in running for office and to serve in his administration when he is elected. These are people with a great depth of understanding and expertise about every subject that he will face as President, both men and women.
5) Barack Obama has energized new and traditional voters to contribute more money to his campaign than any politician in history, which indicates their support, confidence, and desire to have him serve as our chief executive.
6) Barack Obama has met with foreign leaders, military leaders, business professionals, and Congressional leaders about our country’s most troubling problems. He has discussed these issues with them, and offered his opinions as to how to improve them.
7) Barack Obama, as a member of the US Senate, has had to review spending priorities, budget allocations, and government policies for every kind of national issue from healthcare to bank reform to the (so-called) war in Iraq.
And, perhaps even more important than these other items,
8) Barack Obama has NOT voted or supported the moronic positions of the rabid Republican right regarding such issues as abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, original intent of Supreme Court justices, and the (so-called) war in Iraq.
I know that these points won't make ONE BIT OF DIFFERENCE to a white slave owner like you who wants to whip away on this black man who is better EDUCATED, better SPOKEN, better INFORMED, better off FINANCIALLY, and better SUPPORTED by other people than YOU will EVER BE.
Why don't you face up to facts? He's got a LOT of experience, he's been through a LOT of scrutiny, and he has a LOT of answers. You just choose to ignore the obvious.
Stumping for either of the major party candidates is an indication that an individual is oblivious to the fact that IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE! You are screwed no matter who wins.
True enough, conservatives and libertarians tend to resist the theft and violence that government is so good at monopolizing, while liberals and other off breed statists resemble two-legged sheep, lacking the intellectual capacity to recognize that by bleating for more government they only make things worse.
But it matters not which faction controls the Executive Branch. There is one dominant two-faced entity in charge of American politics. Its name is $.
It must be nice to live in a world where only you have things figured out. You're right, I never realized that people do things for money. That's an original thought and really contributes to the political process. It doesnt make a difference if we vote, so we should probably just let ACORN and mind-numbingly misinformed citizens vote for men like Obama. There obviously is no difference between Obama and McCain so they should just combine parties and people like you can be content to sit at Starbucks posting condescneding "thoughts" on other people's blogs dismissing their attempt to better this actual world we live in instead of insisting people see the inherent genius of the fake one they've constructed. Your way is better.
Conservatives and Libertarians are just words and terms given so that we can all better understand each other. How about I call myself an American patriot whose actually read and studied the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and was gifted with that under-appreciated intellectual capacity formerly known as common sense. It sounds like you actually have some to, but are more interested in being the "there is no glass" kind of guy. I think this country can change, that this govt can be reeled in, and that the liberty we all desire can once again be realized. It starts one day at a time, convincing one person at a time, with one idea at a time.
I stump for truth and for the better of the two options. Our system does work, but like Jefferson and Adams said, it is wholly unsuitable in the hands of a non-religious, uninformed citizenry. We need to decide what this country is truly founded on. Is it unalinable rights bestowed from a Creator that cant be annexed by the State....or are we randomly gathered protoplasms whose only purpose is to serve the interests of the herd? These are the fundamental issues we've neglected, but they are the ones our founders (even a Deist like Jefferson) saw as non-negotiable.
I bet you and I would actually see eye to eye on most things, Chichemo...you're just going about it the wrong way. Reform is needed, not overhaul (the kind Democrats are proposing) or white-flag surrender (the kind you are proposing). You are right that the executive branch isnt the end all, be all. But every race, every election matters and the Chief Executive is important. It is impossible logically to make the argument, based on their respective policy proposals, that McCain is the same as Obama. It simply isnt true and even if McCain is only slightly better, he is better, and it is our duty to vote and if a vote for a 3rd party is equivalent to a vote for Obama (which, sadly, it is) then your answer lies before you, courtesy logic and life's experiences.
Your version of reality is fascinating. You know who else did a lot of the things you're talking about... Jimmy Carter. That worked out well for everyone involved. Too strong a comparison? Sorry, it must be the slave owner in me. I am jealous of Obama like a healthy person is jealous of someone with a terminal disease. Liberals do this thing...I think its called "projection" where they accuse other people of the things they are really feeling and your whole bit about me being jealous of Barack The Chosen has the distinct scent of such projectionary tactics.
Few quick counter-points to your well researched (copy and pasted) thoughts about Obama.....
-He's given opinions on foreign policy issues? Wow. That's impressive. I have an opinion of my own: Obama is the most unqualified person to ever run for president. He's less qualified than Sarah Palin. You can quote me on that.
-Barack didnt vote for crazy things like banning gay marriage? Umm, earth to liberal...he's against gay marriage.
-Barack didnt vote for the war in iraq? He was too busy arguing parking ticket violations with Gov Blagojevich in Springfield, IL at the time to have to face the challenge of voting for a war that Biden, Hillary, Kerry and Edwards all voted for. I'm sure Barack would've gone against them. He's shown a lot of spine bucking the system in Washigton during those 100 days he's been a Senator. But at least he has military experience to compensate for that lack of legislative exp.....oh wait.....But he's run a company or state to make up for trailing in decades (not just years) behind McCain in experience......nope, thats not it......Come to think of it, like I said earlier, he's less qualified than Sarah Palin. Hmmm
-Barack has capable people around him? Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae fame? You are so right when you insinuate that McCain has no qualified people around him. Barack is so much better at running things, which stems from his decades of experience in the Senate.
-Barack has been scrutinized? That is also extremely true....if by true you mean categorically false and preposterous. Unless you only read magazines written by Michael Savage (who is insane, btw) then you are more wrong than I am frustrated at the fact that people like you actually exist and can vote. Obama went to a racist church for 20 years that taught white people invented AIDS to kill blacks.....no problem there cause Obama told us he didnt hear it. Phew. The same church Oprah left cause it was too controversial. Obama started his political career in the living room of an unapologetic terrorist....but he was just a guy from the neighborhood. Phew. Tony Rezko gave cheap land to an Illinois politician (Obama) and then was convicted of bribing politicians in the state of Illinois with things like cheap land.....but Obama said it was all above board. Phew. To say that Obama has been scrutinized is as laughable as saying Palin has yet to be scrutinized. Nice try, but just because other liberals can say things and they instantly become true doesnt mean Master C on nolanchart has the same clout.
-Barack has reviewed budgets? Thats so tight. I reviewed my budget the other day and it was awesome. I should run for Commander in Chief, but only if I can promise people that I will take "richer" people's cash and divvy it up to people who dont pay taxes. I wonder how so many new lower income people are being motivated to vote? Like there was almost an incentive (similar to a check from the govt, with cash earned by other people who actually pay taxes) to vote for a guy who promised you free stuff instead of being candid and honest like JFK was (remember that whole "ask not what your country can do for you" thing?). 98% of Black people are voting for Obama but there is definitely a racist problem among whites only. Probably because me and my ancestors who came over in the 1930s from Sweden and lived in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota and slaved away on a farm to make ends meet and crapped in a hole in the ground but never took govt handouts were so racist towards black people they hadnt ever met or known about. Or maybe my dad who has been a pastor in inner city churches lovingly working with blacks and latinos and whites and even native americans for 30 years of his life contributed to all the racism of the Republican party he has voted his entire life for. You obviously know a ton about me, dude.
Master C....I dont know when it will be....in this life or the next...but some day you will remember that I told you you were wrong to embrace radical Leftist thinking and it will hit you like a ton of bricks that I was right. I wont be happy that you were wrong, but I will be right. I wish I could talk you off the ledge, but the kool-aid you seem to be guzzling is strong and I've got important things like not ruining my country to focus on. Enjoy socialism and when your grandkids are complaining to my grandkids someday about how oppressive the supposedly once "proleteriat-friendly" American govt is, I'll instruct my offspring to hand yours a copy of the eventually banned book Road to Serfdom and walk away.
We will never get a decent choice from the GOP until they lose big and change their strategy and put forth real freedom loving capitalist conservatives. Voting third party for real freedom loving capitalist conservatives will help give them the hint.
When they "get their house in order" they will come back to destroy the democrats in the future, with real principled candidates.
Maybe I'm dreaming here, but I like the dream, and I think it's one of the only good chances for positive change.
Posted By: Ryan Karpeles
Date: 2008-10-31 06:30:59
Master C,
You put forth 9 bullets points of information about Sen. Obama, but not a single one listed anything he's actually accomplished (with perhaps the exception of #5 - because getting millions of people to vote for someone who wants to turn the U.S. into Western Europe, although scary, is somewhat of an accomplishment) .
If you're going to insult people and claim superiority over them, it helps to actually present real arguments before doing so.
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected."
Dirty-
Thanks for reading. Again, I hear what you are saying, but with how many un/misinformed people there are out there (see:Master C), its the duty I believe of those who see what is actually happening, and who actually know what this country is supposed to look like and be about, to make some tough sacrifices and "hold the line" as it were from the rising tide of socialist policies that one party clearly champions.
The GOP is sickly, but it is sickly because of conservatives and libertarians not doing our job of educating and informing our friends, families, and neighbors on the things that matter. If individuals/families have to have budgets and stick to them, our govt should as well. If Americans are making cutbacks in a time of economic crisis, our govt should as well. If liberty truly is what our Founders (and we) cherished more than disingenuous "equality" that the Left promises, then we need to remind each other of that when things are tough and the urge to be "taken care of" is the most alluring. If the right to bear arms matters, then we need to explain why and make our argument in the public square. If it is freedom of religion, not freedom from religion (as the secularists and self-loathing religious Americans incorrectly presume), then we need to stand up to groups like the ACLU and show rousing support for politicians who take stands on such issues. I could go on, but I'll spare everyone the rambling speech this time.
My point is simply this: McCain might lose to Obama, Obama might run things so poorly (with the help of the lowest approved Congress in US History) that a true visionary leader with conservative principles (like Bobby Jindall) will emerge, but to say that those things MIGHT happen is not enough to get me to not to try and stop what I KNOW will happen under an Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Activist Court should The One win next Tuesday. The threat from a liberal super-majority in Washington is real, your dream is hypothetical.
You still think democrats are liberals? My God. Far from it. I would welcome a real liberal. The current breed of democrats are tyrannical marxists. If only they were "liberal."
Current GOP has grown government size, scope, and power more than any leftist could dream of doing. They are the not answer right now. They are THE problem.
A fun game people like to play on website like this is change the definition of things to their suiting, and then criticize other people's valid points by saying that person doesnt have the right definition of things. A lot is accomplished that way....not.
Whatever word you want to use, the Left, Democrat, Liberal, Tyrannical Marxist.....that side of the political spectrum is clearly worse and it is ridiculous to say that they couldnt do more harm than what the GOP has done. But really that argument is pointless. Both sides have messed up, but where on the Left do you hear ANYONE calling for fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, de-centralization of powers in Washington to the states, etc, etc? You do hear at least SOME of that on the Right (however you wish to define that). This is the point. We can fix problems among Republicans, the Democrats are a lost cause. This is my stance. You obviously disagree. I live in the world where things are never going to be perfect and the best we can do is make things better bit by bit, day by day. You seem to want some sweeping Ron Paul invasion where his Paulness will snap fingers and libertarianism will reign supreme. Text me when that happens.
I understand your passion and desire and even your disdain for the GOP. I get it. I promise you I do and I entirely agree. Our disagreement is whether or not it can be reformed and resurrected to its Goldwater-Reagan past....and then once reformed, held in check by a vigilant populus. I think both are possible and highly likely. We on the Center-Right must agree on "first principles" (i.e. federalism, free markets, etc) and then seek to find a way forward together. Our ideas are in the same ballpark, and absolutely are the "right" ones....we just need to work together instead of all this back-stabbing (usually done more in a prideful way to show how much more we know than some dumb conservative, or vice versa).
I appreciate your thoughts and look forward to continued dialogue with you.
One more thing....there is still an election Tuesday and an important one at that. Here is what I consider to be the best (or at least one of the best) cases against Obama by Mark Steyn. PLEASE PLEASE read it.
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