After much study & prayer, I have not reach any conclusion as to which presidential candidate I could recommend, and so I continue to fall back on what appears to be a cop-out: vote your conscience. It appears that the Lord, in His wisdom, knows about the fleeting nature of fame and political ascendancy better than we do. Some of the front-runners of today could end up being the also-rans of tomorrow, while others now standing on the sidelines may decide to enter the fray. Some of my sources on talk radio have brought up the old maxim, "party trumps candidates," and that seems to make a lot of sense. Which party is likely to push for the changes that you want most, or to continue the policies that you believe are worth saving?
UPDATE: The latest issue of "Cutting-Edge Conservatism" (Vol. 4, No. 3) addresses this dilemma. Also, I recommend that you read the following column by J. D. Pendry:
For the sake of your political virtue…
Posted: 17 Feb 2008 05:27 PM CST
“Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.” – Franklin P. Adams, 1881-1960
I think Franklin [P. Adams] understood politicians. He also understood that the lesser of evils is more often than not the reason some make it into office. I am noticing something different from that. Not long ago and in the early morning hours on my way to work, I was putting some three dollar a gallon gasoline in my truck when another gentleman pulled up to the opposite side of the pump. Did you ever have a perfect stranger start discussing presidential politics with you at 5 AM? You are not quite sure how you should react. Should you nod, smile, agree, debate or feel your coat pocket to make sure your gun is in there? My philosophy is that when standing at the gas pump in the early morning; check your coat pocket because you never know when the meat clever might appear.
This gentleman was rather distraught. First he grumbled about the price of gasoline. I nodded and smiled. Then he said out of the blue, Edwards would have fixed that. Edwards was a union man he said and he was going to take on those oil companies. My first inclination was to roll my eyes, but my spidey sense activated and stopped the eyebrows just as they began to head north. Now that Edwards had quit the campaign, he could not bring himself to vote for any of the Democrat remainders. He figured they could not win anyway so he thought he would just stay home on Election Day. Let the doggoned Republicans keep it. The more he talked, the more the pitch of his voice rose and the more he looked like Chris Matthews with a little bit of spittle hanging from the corner of his mouth and his eyes flashing. With my hand in my pocket, I started whistling and keeping watch for the meat clever.
Just as I was thinking that people wired as tight as that needed their medications adjusted and should have to undergo psychiatric evaluation before being allowed to vote for anything, I arrived at work and switched the radio on to the local morning talk program. The host began his morning by lamenting how the only true constitutional conservative candidate in the contest was not getting the media attention or voter support he deserved. It was Ron Paul. This time I did roll my eyes, because in the office at 6 AM it was only me and the security guard. Then he started his anti John McCain rant. I do not know much about radio broadcasting, except for my qualifications as a listener. Do the microphones have spit and splatter guards on them? Because just as I hit the off switch the screeching had risen to an irritating pitch and I got an image of fists pounding, eyes flashing and a noggin exploding. I was convinced beyond doubt that this particular host would certainly not sacrifice the purity of his conservativeness by voting for Senator John McCain to be the President of his United States. I could only conclude that, like meat clever man back at the gas pump, he was saving his political purity for that Election Day when his idea of the perfect candidate arrived on the scene.
I put a Norah Jones CD into the computer, which was much more soothing than the screeching I had just switched off. I began perusing the morning headlines before the workday began. Scrolling through I noticed that Ann Coulter stated that not only would she not vote for John McCain, but if he was the Republican candidate she would campaign and vote for Hillary Clinton. Now I like Miss Coulter. She strikes me as being a very bright woman. I enjoy reading her work. Lord knows that she has made much money writing it, a good bit from me actually, whereas I have made zilch except for an occasional yet tiny royalty check. So, maybe I am ill-qualified to criticize. Sometimes, however, I believe people become a little too self-absorbed. I bought and read Miss Coulter’s latest book. It turned out to be a compilation of her own quotes from her previous work. I have a book titled The Quotable Lewis, which is a collection of C. S. Lewis quotes organized by topic. Mr. Lewis did not need to compile it himself. Ann with her vote for Hillary slam of McCain, I expect is trying to preserve her political virtue for her encounter with the perfect conservative.
Rush Limbaugh insists that as far as the war is concerned, it does not matter who is elected because the Democrats will not withdraw from Iraq and accept defeat. Rush is probably right, they will not withdraw.
Instead, they will saddle our Soldiers with a Vietnam like strategy that hamstrings them and gets many more of them killed after which they will declare peace and leave. Rush says that if the country is going to be destroyed, he prefers that Democrats own the destruction. The politicians never own it Rush we do and the sad conclusion is that in a war, credit for victory always belongs to the politicians and defeat is always shackled to the Soldiers. But, what the heck? We will build a nice memorial somewhere.
So, your perfect candidate just might not be on the ticket. Republicans were not conservative enough for many in 2006 so voters stayed home to reinforce the views provided by self-proclaimed, flawless and pure conservative pundits – who mostly have never had to make a national policy decision. Because they stayed home, we get to watch Henry Waxman worry over the possible needle tracks in Roger Clemmons’ butt while our ability to monitor the communications of our enemies just fades away.
So, stay home and wait for that time in history when everything aligns and your idea of Mr. or Ms. Perfect materializes. But, just remember that when you do you are taking action and whatever happens to the country because of it, you own it.
“Right actions done for the wrong reason do not help to build the internal quality or character called a “virtue,” and it is this quality of character that really matters.” – C. S. Lewis
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