Update: Read iMonk’s Whine and Sheesh Party. Excellent stuff, from someone unenthusiastically voting McCain.
Bob Barr is not a candidate to get excited about. At least, I’m not excited. I’m kinda lethargic about the whole thing. I haven’t listened to his speeches, read his press releases, watched him on YouTube, or read the blog. If something unexpected happens, preventing me from getting to the voting booth, I won’t cry about it. But I’m certain I’ll get there, and I’m fairly certain I’ll be voting Bob Barr.
What I’m absolutely certain about is that I won’t be voting for John McCain. Ready for something shocking? Gun to my head, forced to vote for one of the two major parties, I’d vote Obama. No, I don’t like his policies. I don’t think Obama with a hugely Democratic Congress is a good thing. But there’s no way in hell I’m rewarding the party that’s supposed to be representing conservatism with my vote.
And least of all for John McCain.
I can’t understand the reasons conservatives are contriving for supporting McCain. I can’t. I don’t get it. He is manifestly not a conservative, and the fact that some people have figured out ways to convince themselves that he is just shows how far the definition of “conservatism” has shifted.
I mean, come on. He complains about Obama’s economic policies. Are you kidding me? The man whines about socialism, redistribution, and earmarks, but he supports bailouts and the government buying up bad mortgages. One blogger complained recently about Obama’s Kenyesianism, citing it as one of the reasons he’s voting for, you guessed it, John McCain. I can respond with just three letters: W.T.F.
Complaints from McCain supporters about Obama’s tax policies are equally shocking. I mean, after all:
The Republican argument of the moment seems to be that the difference between capitalism and socialism corresponds to the difference between a top marginal income-tax rate of 35 per cent and a top marginal income-tax rate of 39.6 per cent.
Beyond his obvious silliness in trying to make some actual distinction between himself and Obama on domestic policy, his foreign policy is beyond frightening. Should he win, I think we’ll see a Lieberman Secretary of State. And then that dynamic duo, along with Palin who seems to think we’re already at war with Iran, we’ll be changing our national anthem to “Bomb Iran” and taking over the whole Middle East.
And speaking of Palin. Come on, folks. She’s … nevermind. I’m not even going to start. If you don’t get why this woman can’t ever be our president (including, but not limited to, her complete misunderstanding of the simplest part of the First Amendment), and why her selection by McCain was reckless and demonstrated terrible judgment, I’m not going to convince you with anything I write here. Yes, the media has been biased and vicious toward her. But still.
John McCain is a man who served his country honorably, but who dove head-first into Rove-style politics as soon as he got the nomination. He is bad for conservatism, even if I do believe his desire is to honorably serve his country.
So I’m voting for Bob Barr. He isn’t a great candidate, but he’s the only one who’s close to what small-government conservatism actually looks like.
And because the Republicans deserve an embarrassing defeat on Tuesday. And I hope they get it.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Some random thoughts:
1. I’m pretty certain the election is over, unless of course Obama says something tomorrow such as “We need to nuke Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Missouri, Colorado and Pennsylvania.” One indication that it is over is that here in Georgia, Saxby Chambliss (our incumbant GOP Senator) is running ads against Jim Martin (his Democratic opponent) saying that he (Martin) wants to help Obama raise taxes. In other words, Obama is going to be the President, so you don’t want a Democratic congress to rubber stamp everything he wants done.
2. While they may not get as big a majority as they are hoping for, the Dems will probably expand their numbers in both the House and the Senate.
3. There are 3 big issues with which I disagree with John McCain on. a. Campaign Finance Reform. b. The bailout bill. and c. The “War”on Terrorism. As far as Campaign Finance Reform most Republicans also disagreed with McCain, unfortunately Bush wasn’t one of them. But, in general the GOP is in disagreement with both its nominees from 2000, 2004 and 2008 on this issue. The bailout is mixed. They are pretty well split on that issue. But the “War” on Terrorism is something the GOP is willing to go down with ship on. Unlike many of my friends I was opposed to the War in Iraq back in 2002. And, I have been even more opposed to civil liberties violations like the Patriot Act, Warrantless Wiretaps and Executive Authority to declare someone an enemy combatant and hold him or her without trial. I had thought after the 2006 elections the Republicans might wake up to the fact that they were no longer going to win on this issue, but bad habits die hard. Maybe if they lose Tuesday they will learn, but I’m not holding my breath.
One additional item, if one can stand to listen to my deep Southern, hickish accent, I have posted an audio file on my blog indirectly related to this issue.
Just remember…….Whoever gets elected President, JESUS is still the King.
Travis, I’m totally with you on being against McCain. (And Obama was never an option.) My problem is that I just can’t seem to pull the lever for Barr. On paper, he seems okay, but there’s just something unsettling about him. A lot of my libertarian-minded friends down here in GA see him as nothing more than a political opportunist.
Gaines, I hear ya, and I’m not entirely decided yet. I’m still unsure what I’ll do. Libertarians don’t seem sold on Barr across the board, if the LP folks at Reason are any indication. Are you thinking about Baldwin or any other third party candidates? Or just staying home?
“there’s no way in hell I’m rewarding the party that’s supposed to be representing conservatism with my vote.” amen. That’s the point I’ve been trying to drive home to my voting-for-the-lesser-of-two-evils friends. Just haven’t been able to say it quite that way at church.
I’ll be unenthusiastically voting for Barr tomorrow. I had decided to leave the Presidential race blank because Barr seemed so… well, unsettling (thanks Gaines), but I saw a youtube of him on Glenn Beck talking about being pro-life, then heard about the heat he’d taken about that, and decided that maybe he was more sincere than he seemed. Not that being pro-life really matters- I think it will take a Constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal, but somehow it made him seem a little more human.
Why not vote Baldwin? I would, but can’t even write him in here in NC. Stupid ballot laws.
Travis, I’ll definitely be going out to vote tomorrow, mainly to vote for the U.S. Senate seat. The incumbent (Chambliss) is a tool, and the Libertarian candidate is pretty good!
I’ll probably vote Baldwin for President. He’s a qualified write-in here in Georgia, so the vote will actually count.
I unenthusiastically voted for Baldwin because I actually prefer McCain over Barr–and that isn’t saying much.