Man without a Candidate
For me, the statement is true for both President and the Senate. The states that have their primaries early settled on the presidential candidates long ago, and when Indiana finally has its primary there won't be much point in casting a primary ballot for that office.
Nobody in the field appeals to me.
I'm closest in agreement in principle with McCain on the war and national security, tax and spending policy, healthcare, and education.
But I'm not at all happy with his aggressive support of amnesty for illegal aliens, campaign finance reform, and other issues where he's been on the wrong side. Many things he's said and issues he's supported suggest strongly that he's one of the first senators we could point to when discussing the out-of-touch beltway mentality that rules DC.
On the subject of the economy he seems weak. He hasn't yet articulated a meaningful policy to address the current problem, and on energy he sounds disheartenly like a Democrat.
Naturally, Clinton and Obama present very little in common with my views. From a policy perspective, both are pretty far left socially. Hillary is a bit more moderate than Obama on national security, but both are a bit frightening in their naievete in that area.
Both are open borders proponents, and the cynic in me believes it is based simply on their desire to consolidate power by naturalizing so many immigrants as to permanently outnumber conservative voters.
It's somewhat tempting to agree with them on trade issues. I'm one that thinks we should be tougher on trading partners like China, which for years has been violating even existing trade agreements and getting away with it. I still believe we should be just as open to goods from other countries as they are to ours.
Finally, I'm very concerned about the social and moral issues, where McCain is the only candidate worthy of consideration. He may not be the strongest candidate on those issues, but he's running against people who don't even believe there is such a thing as morality. Then again, they like to redefine morality in socialist terms.
The socialist agenda that would be implemented by either Democrat can't imagine any solution other than government control to problems of access to healthcare and college education. True, there are many people who can't afford exhorbitant health insurance premiums. And it's terrible that college students are racking up mountains of debt to finish their degrees simply because the higher education institutions continue to raise tuition and fees while lenders happily step in to cover the deficits with loans the students may need a lifetime to repay.
Democrats "solve" these problems by raising taxes on everybody else and redirecting that money to the patients and students who "need" it. Conservatives say no, let's actually solve the problem without socialism by addressing the root causes of the high costs of healthcare and education. Those root causes, of course, coming directly from the biggest constituents of the Democrats - trial lawyers and academia.
Conservatives have their noses out of joint with McCain's wrapup of the nomination because he's not a "pure" conservative. Then again, strictly speaking I'm not a "pure" conservative myself. So I can wish all I want for a candidate who both inspires me and mirrors all of my personal stands on issues of the day. But wishing has never made it true, so as I usually do, I'll dutifully show up on election day in November and vote for the better candidate.
Even though the best candidate isn't on the ballot.
Nobody in the field appeals to me.
I'm closest in agreement in principle with McCain on the war and national security, tax and spending policy, healthcare, and education.
But I'm not at all happy with his aggressive support of amnesty for illegal aliens, campaign finance reform, and other issues where he's been on the wrong side. Many things he's said and issues he's supported suggest strongly that he's one of the first senators we could point to when discussing the out-of-touch beltway mentality that rules DC.
On the subject of the economy he seems weak. He hasn't yet articulated a meaningful policy to address the current problem, and on energy he sounds disheartenly like a Democrat.
Naturally, Clinton and Obama present very little in common with my views. From a policy perspective, both are pretty far left socially. Hillary is a bit more moderate than Obama on national security, but both are a bit frightening in their naievete in that area.
Both are open borders proponents, and the cynic in me believes it is based simply on their desire to consolidate power by naturalizing so many immigrants as to permanently outnumber conservative voters.
It's somewhat tempting to agree with them on trade issues. I'm one that thinks we should be tougher on trading partners like China, which for years has been violating even existing trade agreements and getting away with it. I still believe we should be just as open to goods from other countries as they are to ours.
Finally, I'm very concerned about the social and moral issues, where McCain is the only candidate worthy of consideration. He may not be the strongest candidate on those issues, but he's running against people who don't even believe there is such a thing as morality. Then again, they like to redefine morality in socialist terms.
The socialist agenda that would be implemented by either Democrat can't imagine any solution other than government control to problems of access to healthcare and college education. True, there are many people who can't afford exhorbitant health insurance premiums. And it's terrible that college students are racking up mountains of debt to finish their degrees simply because the higher education institutions continue to raise tuition and fees while lenders happily step in to cover the deficits with loans the students may need a lifetime to repay.
Democrats "solve" these problems by raising taxes on everybody else and redirecting that money to the patients and students who "need" it. Conservatives say no, let's actually solve the problem without socialism by addressing the root causes of the high costs of healthcare and education. Those root causes, of course, coming directly from the biggest constituents of the Democrats - trial lawyers and academia.
Conservatives have their noses out of joint with McCain's wrapup of the nomination because he's not a "pure" conservative. Then again, strictly speaking I'm not a "pure" conservative myself. So I can wish all I want for a candidate who both inspires me and mirrors all of my personal stands on issues of the day. But wishing has never made it true, so as I usually do, I'll dutifully show up on election day in November and vote for the better candidate.
Even though the best candidate isn't on the ballot.
posted by Dan S. at 6:10 AM
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