Thursday, June 19, 2008

Voting For The Prexi- Plesi- The Big Guy

I have written on the topic before.

Mr. Obama is Right Out for me. Skin color? Nope; in fact, I took a closer look at him than I usually give Democrat candidates on account of some of his ancestors hailin' from Africa and I suppose that was unfair, but a thumb in the eye of nitwits who think genetics tell the whole story would have been nice. It's his scary-Left policies of heavily taxin' people who work for a living to support the indigent while telling us it's for our own good that bugs me; it's that "you'll have to give up a piece of your pie," when I already can't afford pie -- nor pay to hold my thermostat at 72. (And what's yours set at, Senator? Have any pie this week, hey?) He seems to be clueless about many issues and only too willing to toe the party line on many more -- like, oh, drillin' for oil within the territory of the United States. His fellows in the Federal legislature appear to be drooling over the prospect of nationalizing oil companies; when you consider the Feds could not even run a house of prostitution in such wise as to meet the payroll and overhead, I am ill-inclined to think they'd do any better with oil. And then there's the little matter of him not bein' at all cool with gun-owners and carryin'; that's a show-stopper for me.

Then we have Mr. McCain. Fearless foe of the First Amendment and the "fallback date" for the Democrats wanting to experiment with bipartisanship. He's eternally pleased to compromise,* no matter what. Oh, I kind of like his bad temper -- politicians need to spend more time spatting with one another and less time meddling with citizens -- but it's not backed up by much of a spine, so what real use is it? In recent years, his party has majorly failed to demonstrate the kind of fiscal restraint that once made it my first choice, choosing to concentrate on social conservatism, promoting the regulation of private, peaceable behavior in a manner that made me look askance. On guns, well, he did show up at the NRA convention but it looked to me it was the usual Republican deal with gun owners: they'll take us to the Prom 'cos they gotta but don't expect to get any dances. Nor do his Veep choices-as-reported offer any better prospects.

That leaves us with Bob Barr. Seems like a nice guy, social conservative, fiscal conservative, old-fashioned Republican. He'd be a pretty good fit for a conservative party, maybe the Constitution Party. But the Libertarian Party? Man's havin' to back and fill and no matter how much I might like the LP's platform in most respects, it seems like no favor for Mr. Barr to publicly endorse notions that privately may well leave him feeling squeamish. Oh, he'll kiss 'em but he may be gargling household ammonia afterwards. It's certainly not libertarian: remember that "Party of Conscience" line? Guess it was just a slogan. If I'd hear some more "I can't stand it myself but it's not the FedGov's biz" from him, I'd be happier. (And who knows, he just may. --I like him on fiscal policy and limits on the Feds).

What've I got? One major disaster, one disappointment and one guy who may be having to hold his nose to run, all three of whom would happily bite the head off a bald eagle if it would assure them of winnin' the Pesidency of this here Fed'ral Onion. I'll vote, come the Fall, but right now I'll bedarned if there's anyone I'll be pleased to vote for.
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* Ayn Rand: "There can be no compromise between a property owner and a burglar; offering the burglar a single teaspoon of one’s silverware would not be a compromise, but a total surrender—the recognition of his right to one’s property."

4 comments:

Mike Kole said...

Preach it! It's about POLICY. Obama seems at best an empty suit spouting hollow platitudes, and at worst yet another big government Democrat. I wouldn't vote for my son if that's what he ran on.

I would be thrilled to vote for a black candidate- should Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell ever choose to run, I'll back either with my time, money, and vote.

Andrew C said...

I used to joke about writing in Cthulhu for President (why settle for the lesser evil?). Now, I'm not so sure I'm joking. I'm hoping for a third party candidate to show up who I can actually stand to vote for.

Turk Turon said...

Every four years since I turned 18 I have appeared at the polls not knowing who I was going to vote for until I saw the ballot: I always voted for the Libertarian, whoever that was.

This year, though...

Bob Barr?

Ye gods and little fishes.

Anonymous said...

The problem of course, is that Bob Barr doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of getting elected. About the closest a third party candidate has gotten to the whitehouse in the last 100 year is Perot, and he didn't get a single electoral vote(He did get 19% of the popular vote though).

How many people actually know he's running? Ask 10 people on the street, and I betcha 9 have never heard of him.