Friday, May 30, 2008

Where Are We Going, And Why Are We In This Handbasket?

I have decided to vote for Barack Obama in November.

It will be the first time in my life that I have ever voted for a Democrat for any office, and it pains me to no end that things have come to this...

But I'm going to do it anyway, because it has to be done this time.

I have put a lot of thought into this decision. It has been the most difficult decision about an election that I have ever had to make, but I feel that the choice is clear.

Republicans lost control of both Houses of Congress in 2006, and by all accounts, they are going to lose even more power this year. The estimates that I have heard put the Democrats gaining ten to twelve seats in the Senate, and predict at least a seventy seat Majority in the House of Representatives.

This puts the Democrats at the magic number of sixty votes in the Senate. The "Veto-Proof" majority. Enough votes to break a filibuster.

If a Republican President were to nominate King Solomon to the Supreme Court, the Democrats would not confirm him.

So the Supreme Court is lost, one way or the other.

Add to that the fact that the Republican Presidential candidate this time around is John McCain.

He not only has based his entire political career on siding with Democrats and opposing the agendas of the people whom I sent to Washington to represent me, he has gleefully engaged in "back-room deals" with the opposition and subverting the political process, he was the leader of the "Gang of Fourteen", and as such, usurped Presidential Authority over the Judicial Nomination Process, and has authored legislation which unconstitutionally restricts the right to free political expression and would throw our Borders wide open to a hundred million (or more) new immigrants, with the right to vote and collect tax-payer funded benefits as soon as they arrive...

He also embraces the Global Warming myth, and has stated that he will pursue an agenda of combatting "climate change", which means attacking the U.S. Economy, raising taxes on everything and everyone, and further screwing up energy production and delivery in America.

To paraphrase something that I heard my Dad say a long time ago, the world is crying out for some good, strong conservative leadership, but NOBODY wants a cheap immitation of a Liberal.

I cannot vote for John McCain.

And if I did, it wouldn't do any good anyway. We, as a Nation, are going to pursue the Liberal Agenda for at least the next four years, no matter who the President is.

On the substantive issues, McCain's platform is almost indistinguishable from Barack Obama's.

And the result of following this path of irresponsible, naive, and short-sighted legislation will be a period of National misery, crisis and economic disaster that will make us all long for the heady, carefree days of prosperity and plentitude of the CARTER ADMINISTRATION.

So now, the question becomes:

If there is going to be a disaster caused by the pursuit of a Liberal Agenda, who should own that disaster? The Democrats who caused it, or the Republicans who layed down and let it roll over them?

With my vote, I choose to put the blame where it belongs.

This is going to be messy, but I plan to do my part to see that the authors of the mess get the full credit for it. I will not give them a RINO to hold up as the representative of Conservatism for the rest of my life.

I will not vote for John McCain.

I am going to vote for Barack Obama.

And pray.

12 comments:

Mark said...

I get it. Vote for the Liberal and watch as the Liberal agenda proves itself unsuccessful. It is a brilliant plan, but is it worth the price?

The most frightening repercussion of voting for Obama is surrender in Iraq, and that could end up costing millions of Americans their lives in the next 4-5 years as the Islamic terrorists run roughshod over our country with little resistance from our decimated military.

I ask again. Is it worth the price?

Anonymous said...

McCain can't be worse than the Dem choice, plus if he would pick a good VP candidate and then fail to live out his full term, there could be some hope. No hope with a Dem. That's my opinion. Mom2

tugboatcapn said...

Mark, the Democrats are not going to pull out of Iraq... If they were going to do that, they could have done it already.

They only want to lose wars when they have a Republican President to blame defeat on.

And McCain is as likely as not to pull out of Iraq (maybe even more likely to pull out than Obama) just to try to please the Democrats.

And the last thing that I want to happen is for the stupid Republican Party to decide that the way to win elections is by running spineless, moderate, self-serving candidates who will sell out Conservative Ideals and Goals just so that the Media and the Democrats will like them.

Nope. You see, the Democrats won this election when McCain became the Republican nominee.

What we are deciding now is whether the coming economic crash will be attributed to a Republican administration, or a Democrat administration.

I am a Conservative, not a Republican, and I do not put party above ideology.

When the Republican sells me down the river, I am under no obligation to support them, no matter how bad the alternative.

And yes, McCain might keel over at any moment, but unless half of the Senate falls out at the same time, it still won't make any difference.

McCain will be a lame duck from the moment he swears in. No Conservative Legislation will be enacted for at least the next four years, regardless of who wins the White House.

I just don't want to provide the Democrats any political cover when their policies fail.

Anonymous said...

I see your point. Mom2

Trader Rick said...

I'll vote for O'Bama when they pry my cold dead fingers from my copy of the constitution...

tugboatcapn said...

Rick, McCain has no better grasp of the Constitution than Obama.

McCain-Feingold was an open-handed slap at the first ammendment, limiting not just speech, but political expression, the whole reason for the first ammendment in the first place.

His "Line Item Veto" legislation was struck down as Unconstitutional in 1998.

He was a kingpin in the "Gang of Fourteen", undermining the President's Constitutional Authority to nominate Federal Judges.

He blames Rush Limbaugh in particular, and "Talk Radio" in general for his failure to secure the Republican Nomination in 2000, so under a McCain administration, you will be able to look forward to the return of the "Fairness Doctrine, or some other such policy of further restriction of political speech. You can count on it.

He will not hold up his Constitutional duty to protect our national borders (McCain-Kennedy), he believes in using tax policies to modify and control behavior (see his attack on "Big Tobacco" in 1998), he has stated that he does not believe that Corporations should be allowed to make profits, and he shopped himself around to the Democrats to try to make a deal in 2001 to switch parties and thereby shift the balance of the Senate back to the Democrats over-ruling the will of the voting public. ("Jumpin' Jim" Jefferds beat him to the punch.)

He will monkey with the Healthcare issue, which the Government needs to leave completely alone., and he buys into the "Global Warming" baloney, and will sign into law whatever disasterous, anti-freedom, anti-capitalist and Unconstitutional legislation that a Congress controlled by Democrats can dream up, no matter what it costs in terms of Liberty, Jobs, Tax Dollars, or for how long or how seriously it will cripple the U.S. Economy.

But his worst sin is running as a Republican, and blatantly turning his back on the Conservative Base.

I am not willing to turn the Republican Party over to the Left.

Not in my name.

If we are going to ignore the Constitution either way, and the Country is going to topple over to the Left during the next few years, then I am content to let it happen on a Democrat's watch.

McCain does not deserve, nor will he get my vote.

Al-Ozarka said...

I refuse to vote for the GOP establishment's choice.

But I also will NOT have Obama on my conscience!

I'm finding a nice insignificant candidate with whom I agree somewhat with and I'm casting my insignificant little vote for him/her/it!

So, Cap'n...while you're aiding in building up liberalism for a crash, I'll be an example of the significance of the socially conservative vote for the GOP leadership.

Ms.Green said...

I'm sitting this election out. I will not be forced by the GOP to vote for Mccain.

If McCain wins that means we'll have no choice of replacing him with another more conservative candidate in 4 years. I'd rather see him lose now, have the Republican party regroup, and come back to those of us it has abandoned - the conservatives, the Christians, the patriots, and then give us a REAL candidate for 2012.

That is if we make it through 4 years of BHO.

Erudite Redneck said...

Tug, do not be alarmed, but you asre making perfect sense. McCain is not a conservative, and were I a conservstive Republican, I would be sick to my stomach.

And, I agree, totally, that the success, or failure, of the next four to eight years should rest wholly on the Democratic Party (assuming a WH win and retained control of Congress). The Democrats are being Democrats, in all their glory (as I see it), or unglory (as you see it). But what you're seeing is what you're getting. Can't say the same for the tired GOP right now.

The economy is going to probably crash hard, whichever party is in control, though, so I won't be giving credit or blame to either one for that.

tugboatcapn said...

You may not.

But others will.

And whatever happens, it will not be Conservatism that causes it, just as it wasn't Conservatism that caused the Republican Party to lose it's way.

I may not vote for Obama, or I may.

I may vote for Bob Barr, or even Ron Paul, or I might write in someone like Homer Simpson or Hulk Hogan...

But I WILL NOT vote for McCain.

I am done being taken for granted by a Republican Elitist Political Machine that believes that I will support them because I have nowhere else to go.

If I am not going to be represented either way, then have fun without me.

Al-Ozarka said...

The Reverend said:

"
The economy is going to probably crash hard, whichever party is in control, though..."

Probably because of an increased minimum wage and environmentalists forcing us to buy our energy from our enemies.

Both reasons to reject the Democrat Party and McCainlican Party.

tugboatcapn said...

Don't forget the plan to let the "Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich" expire, and the meddling in the Housing Market, and the promised increase in Capital Gains Taxes, and the promises to "take the profits of Big Oil", the Banking Industry Bailouts, the refusal to deal in any substantive way with the Border Crisis, the take-over of the Healthcare System...

None of these are "Right Wing" ideas...

If you actively planned to crash the U.S. Economy, the best plan to do that would look pretty much like what is happening.

And John McCain will do nothing to stop any of this.

But sometimes, you can't fix a thing when it's rotten.

You have to let it fall down, and rebuild it later.

God Bless America.