• McCain-Feingold
• McCain-Kennedy
• McCain-Leiberman

The reason I cannot isn’t because I think my voice will in any way affect the fact the McCain is going to be the Republican candidate. It is because I want McCain to know that those of us who still remember that conservative values strengthen the party don’t feel like he has really been on the ball for the last eight to ten years. It is because I want his advising team to say “Hey John, maybe we really need to look at someone who really is conservative, and not a Senator, to be your VP running mate. That way we can garner support from the libs and undecideds you are pulling already and maybe get some of our actual base voters to vote for the ticket in hopes that you only serve one term and let the real conservative take over.”

It is because I want the ‘down ticket‘ elections to be just as big a draw come November. If the electorate can fill the House and Senate with people who could make it impossible for any of the big three candidates to screw things up too badly, then it would be fine to elect McCain. But even if one of the other two is elected, the Left still isn’t in control of the Legislature; and in my book, that’s a win. Using McCain’s faults as a reason to go vote is a fine way to let McCain and his pollsters know that we the people do not care that much for his attitude.

Gentlemen, think again about what you are asking. You are asking us, the citizens of the United States of America, to not exercise our First Amendment protected right to political speech. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why you seem to be fans of McCain in the first place, since he asked us to do the same thing.

Well, of course not.  Being VP to Hillary would mean playing second banana to her (inevitably) failed presidency.

And having Hillary as his VP would mean he’d eventually wind up in Fort Marcy Park.

Smartest thing that man has said yet.

Therefore, if Obama is elected President, then in the eyes of at least some muslims, the US will have its first muslim President. Which is easy enough to conflate into having an Islamic government. These aren’t the sharpest, most subtle intellects we’re dealing with here.

I am therefore forced to conclude that if Obama is elected President, then we’re going to have to listen to imams bitching for the next 1300 years about how the holy Islamic land of America is in the hands of the infidel.

I think I just found my reason to vote McCain.

Someone in a discussion forum I stumbled into early this morning had posted a comment to the effect, “why do we Democrats like Republicans so much more than Republicans like Democrats?”

Could it be that Republicans are likable? Of course we are. We’ve done more “reaching out” (please, Lord, let that silly affectation die soon) and reaching across the aisle, and haven’t gotten the courtesy of a reach-around in return from the Democrats since LBJ. Of course they like us. We welcome their ideas as our own. They’re pulling politics into the abysmal gravitational vortex of self-interest, and we’re going along with it… to get along. The new measure of political expediency.

Don’t worry, we can all play along at home! Which is precisely what is happening. The political frame of leadership has moved from a strict Representative Republic construct to an irresponsible Democratic one.

My vote: me first.

Most Republican leadership laments that it has to go along with this self-interested slough of a slothful electorate in order to attain any likelihood of influence or power.

And many, many Republicans have touted this as a moderate and logical way to conserve Conservatism.

Just consider that.

The Great Society Train Wreck

I’ll continue this with an anachronism to describe the vanishing Conservatives, since we’re disappearing across the plains like the mighty steam engines that once tamed this country and brought it together.

The goal in this political season is power and influence presumably; power to attain worthy goals, abiding goodness, and strong policies for future wealth and independence. But do we really want to grab the controls of a speeding and inevitable train wreck by bribing all the passengers to elect us the engineer– with promises of more comfortable seats for the journey?

We’re all gonna die if we keep going, and self-interest groups and those who pander to them are fighting to get us there quicker. Are we there yet?

But more and more, we’re the ones being made to shovel the coal ever-faster; and please shut up because there is no God, no reckoning, no bills to pay; there is only now. Right now! And, faster, please! Don’t you know that there are poor, sick, old, victimized, traumatized, unionized, homeless, disabled, diseased, orphaned, childless, drug-crazed, and illegal people that all want something from the Social Engineer? They’re depending on you to perform, so stop being so selfish and think of others for once, you heartless Republican!

And off we go, careening around Wall Street curves and hurtling down the reworked tracks of Socialism, without a brakeman in sight.

Just. Great.

No, this isn’t the ballad of Casey Jones, but it may as well be the ballad of LBJ. That Great Society that LBJ envisioned? You’re living it, baby. You’re working, it, too. That War on Poverty thing? We’ll win it yet; we just need another surge of cash. So pour it on, you selfish Capitalist. Hell no, they won’t give you a pullout time table. Not as long as one person is still free to think and provide for themselves.

And vote for softer seats.

Moreover, the Conservative Coal Shovelers’ Union Boss is in tight with the Social Engineer now. So shut up and shovel, we still have plenty of track ahead of us.

So I thought maybe if I made a list of my stances, someone might be able to point me to a candidate I can vote for without feeling the need to repent and shower afterward. With that in mind…

Generally speaking, as long as whatever someone else is doing isn’t bothering anyone else, I think they should be left alone. This includes drugs, sex, and suicide, among other things. As long as everyone understands the risks, and does them in ways that don’t hurt anyone, have at it. Of course that’s not an absolute; nothing ever is. And of course it’s more complicated than that. Think of this as more of an ideal.

The second amendment to the US Constitution is an individual right, based on the premise that any government can become corrupt and the people might have to rise up in revolution to overthrow it someday. The “militia” is us.

Embryonic stem cell research is not murder. I don’t know the numbers, but I understand a lot of fertility clinic leftovers get thrown away. If they could all be introduced to the stem cell research industry, I imagine a lot of that research would be a lot farther along than it is today. Besides, why is it wrong to run tests on zygotes, but not wrong to put them in a Ziploc baggie and toss them out? I’m opposed to avoiding concrete scientific inquiry on the basis of moral arguments we can’t even all agree on. Yes, the skin cell->stem cell thing is cool. But are we missing anything by bypassing the source? I don’t know. That’s the point. Contrariwise, if there’s no difference between a skin cell that becomes a stem cell and an embryonic stem cell, then there’s no difference, and the altered skin cell also has a right to life.

I’m not in favor of abortion, but then again, I don’t expect I’ll ever have to decide whether or not to have one. I can, however, think of circumstances where the simple fact of a pregnancy can be detrimental to the health of the mother, even if she’s underage, and especially if she has to tell her parents about it. I’m not advocating it as preferable. I think it should be discouraged in every reasonable way. But after that, if that’s still what she wants to do, that’s her deal.

I already hear the counter-argument: she’s not just affecting herself! What about the life of the baby? There’s a heap fallacy at work here. It is not true that at time T there is no life and then that at some time T+x after sperm and egg meet, life appears. Life doesn’t begin. It continues. Any line we choose to draw as a society will be arbitrary, whether that is at the moment of conception or at birth minus one second, and we will never get everyone to agree on something that makes us all happy. Therefore, let’s compromise on something we all despise equally. For instance: viability. The baby gains human rights the instant it is able to survive as an independent organism, or has independence thrust upon it. That’s roughly 24 weeks and getting younger. And we won’t be fiddling with world records here, either. Let’s say 50% survival rate, corrected for normal infant mortality rates.

I’m in favor of nuclear power, and have been since I heard of the stuff in the 70’s. I’m in favor of ethanol as a replacement fuel for gasoline. If that company that claims they can do it for $1 a gallon from any organic waste isn’t lying or wrong, we should throw money at them as a nation until they perfect it, and let’s get started converting our engines. Oil’s more valuable as plastic anyway. I like solar power, but it’s difficult to imagine having enough surface area to cover all our power needs. Does anyone need Wyoming for anything?

One of the few legitimate reasons for the existence of the federal government is, and I quote, “provide for the common defence.” That means we can’t have people running back and forth over our borders whenever they feel like it carrying who knows what. People who are here illegally are “illegal aliens.” That’s a legal term, not an insult. They have no right to be here. They need to go home, and stay there until we decide to allow them back in. It shoud be remembered that the Mexicans aren’t a displaced indian tribe. They’re Spanish. They are of Spanish (and Portuguese, granted) descent. Their ancestors raped and pillaged at least as much as our did, and I betcha ours felt worse about it afterward. Then they lost the southwest to us in a war. If they want it back, they can start another one.

By the same token, the announced, avowed intent of fundamentalist Islam is to conquer the world by violent means. Right now, their main targets are the United States and the rest of western civilization. They have, and I think this needs to be said more often, declared war on us. Whether we like it or not, we are at war. The war doesn’t stop because we say so, because we aren’t the aggressors. We need to keep fighting until we win. The fact that we have massively superior firepower and the ability to project it anywhere in the world in as little as few hours or days does not make us the bad guy. All it means is that we’re going to win, eventually, unless someone convinces us to stop fighting. The war ends when they give up, not before. I think we should be careful not to hurt or kill innocents in the pursuit of the enemy, but to a certain extent that is inevitable, and we have to accept that.

Global warming: we haven’t been studying the weather long enough as a species to be able to say with any validity that humans are the cause of increased temperatures in the last few years. I’m not sure we’ve been studying it long enough to claim that temperatures are rising in the first place, instead of undergoing normal long-term variation. It’s possible the cycle is longer than the hundred years we’ve been keeping records. It’s possible the sun’s output is varying, as evidenced by warm-ups detected on Mars and Jupiter. And most importantly, the entire issue has become politicized and death-knelled by a man seeking relevance and his willing sycophants for too long for anyone to think rationally about it anymore. We should not be making national policy based on a doomsday boogeyman. That said, some of the things suggested as ways to combat global warming are good ideas anyway, such as recycling, as long as they don’t become mandatory.

National health care: keep the government away from my kidneys! I’m all in favor of every American having full access to medical treatment. I am vehemently opposed to the government having a finger in making my medical decisions. Does anyone remember HMO’s? The way they tended to screw over the people who needed expensive emergency care, forcing doctors to try cheaper, less successful alternatives? Also, does anyone have any idea what happens to any system or program run by the government? It costs more and does less with the money. Actually, that’s not just the government. Any one-size-fits-all system has the same limitation when individual variation is very large: the outliers are ignored or rationalized away. The system can’t account for everyone and be finitely complex at the same time. When dealing with health, economies of scale do not exist. Each case must be handled on its own merits. None of the systems I have heard being proposed will do that better than what we have now. The problem lies less in the fact that people can’t afford insurance than it does in the fact that common medical procedures cost thousands of dollars. That’s probably where more effort needs to be focused. Just, not by the government.

There is a basic, simple lack of sincerity and common decency in the country and the world today. I don’t mean “lack of decency” as in too much porn and drugs and general debauchery. That’s more of a symptom. I mean that people used to give a crap about the other guy. Nowadays it seems that everyone is always looking out only for himself all the time and to hell with anyone in his way. They’re looking for a payday, and if that means being a dick, so much the better. I haven’t mentioned any specific politicians up to this point, but here’s a perfect example: Hillary Clinton. I believe, and I think I’m not alone in this, that she will do or say absolutely anything to get to be the next President, even sleep with her husband. Not because she wants to be a great leader in this time of crisis or due to an overabundant sense of duty. Rather, because it’s the prize. It’s her golden ticket into the history books. It’s the stick with which she will spank the nation into doing things her way. She wants to be Queen, and I think that’s enough reason to keep her as far from the west wing as humanly possible.

But it’s not just her. It’s lawyers who get paid whether they win or not, so they sue as often as they can get away with it. It’s people who use tragedy to promote their personal agendas. It’s dictators who pretend to hold elections to legitimize their rule, and then offer to send observers to monitor our elections. It’s the fact that I can no longer believe independent election monitors are unnecessary in this country. It’s every politician who would rather get reelected than do the best thing for the country. It’s everyone who bases their votes not on what they believe but on who they think will win, just so they can say they voted for the winner, like it’s flippin’ American Idol. It’s everyone who thinks, “What’s in it for me?” before, “What can I do to help?” It’s everyone you meet and hear about every day who make you want to scream, “What the hell is wrong with you people?!”

We used to believe we were better than that. I don’t know what happened, but it needs to stop.

Okay, deep, cleansing breath.

I think that covers the high points. For personal liberty and rational thought, against idiots and criminals. Tell me, oh wise internet, who is my candidate?

Maybe it was something I said? You didn’t like it when I said that supporting an amendment about flag burning was not in the realm of the constitutional limits of governmental power? I take it back. Go ahead and make the case for limiting free expression in any form, I’m sure you could convince me if you really loved me.

Or maybe I should have just listened to what everyone was saying: that you were a lazy lout who wasn’t really committed to me or to our relationship.

Now get out. Don’t let the door hit you where nature split you. I don’t need YOU to take care of ME: build fences to keep me safe, keep our neighbors from being peeping Toms, or worse… from breaking in and stealing our stuff. I don’t need anyone to help me balance our finances or plan for our old age.

I could have picked anyone, you know. There were some very good looking men out there in the field. But I chose you. I went crazy longing for you to say the words, way after so many others had already said it. But when you finally did, my heart swelled. I went crazy for you. I even wore the T-shirt. NO MORE. You had your chance but were just too damn impatient to wait and see what happened Down South, if you know what I mean.

Wait a minute, that’s it isn’t it. You’re just angry because I wouldn’t put out on the first date! I am a lady, sir! I deserve to be treated as such. That big statue in New York is looking out towards the ocean, and now that is the view for you as well: my backside. I’m not talking to you any more.

Signed:

Liberty Belle

Barack Hussein Obama will not in any way shape or form be getting my support during this or any other election for the following reason: He wants my guns. Can you say Second Amendment Mr. Obama? I didn’t think so.

Rudy, same for you. Sorry. Too much history.

Mitt, dangit, you too.

John McCain, love ya babe, on the gun thing, really. But you suck on the First Amendment.

Hillary, really? You have to ask me that? She not only wants gun control, she wants thoughtpolice too.

The Other John, seems just a little wishy-washy on the whole thing.

Huckleberry seems to think his very own lord god jehovah has problems with the way our constitution is written. I guess he would just like to amend it to LIMIT the freedoms of the citizenry.

Duncan, dangit, builder of the Fence, you had me at hello. But then I saw you have some issues yourself when it comes to being a little too conservative.

Whew.

I think the only way to get through this election cycle is to try to remember that the person in the big chair has limits on the power they can wield, especially if that person has a Senate or Congress composed of the other party arrayed to keep him in check. Gee, checks and balances? Separation of powers? Sounds like a plan. That makes me feel like the Founders had a good grasp on this whole self-governance thing. Oh, yeah, they did. Along with that little slice of smart, they also said that power rests in the hands of the people, not the state. The elected are there to work for us, not us for them.

Have you ever noticed that the Amendments to the Constitution, the ones that actually stuck in place, are all about placing further limits on the state or giving guidance on how the mechanics of governance was to function in a way that interfered less with the liberty of the people than it had in the past? (I will leave discussion of the Sixteenth alone as so many others have done a far better job discussing it than I could.) Have any recently proposed Amendments had at their core the same flavor—or have they been defeated because they in fact would have limited the capital-freaking-”I” Individual in some fashion.

Should we as a nation be concerned that the person we elect to be our next President is the kind of person who would support limiting YOUR liberties, or those of your neighbors? Or are we going to hope the Supreme Court takes care of us?

However.

This is simply not to be tolerated, in any way, shape or fashion.

“[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it’s a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards,” Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

I read Revolt in 2100, and, to paraphrase Tom Hanks, it scared the crap out of me. We can not (read as: will not) allow the rise of a Nehemiah Scudder type.

Some tinpot redneck is not going to track his muddy ideals all over my Constitution because his version of God “tells” him to. And if you’re a religious person at all, I’d be extremely offended that this backwoods martinet presumes to tell *you* what God wants.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, separation of church and bloody state is what this country is founded on. Let’s all remember that, shall we.

Others on this topic:

• Cold Fury
• The Liberty Papers