Thursday, October 22, 2009

I Still Don't Get It

I guess I'm a little thick headed but I still don't get. Say there are two candidates running for office who are virtually interchangeable. On principal I can not support either one of them. Explain to me again why I should vote for the Republican candidate? Oh, I am supposed to vote against the Democrat. Okay but if the Republican candidate supports abortion, tax and spend, Cap and Trade, and so on, isn't it a moral failing for me to give my vote to someone whose views are repugnant to me?

Now, lets change it up a bit and add a third party candidate to the mix. If that third party candidate supports my positions across the board, why shouldn't I vote for the candidate who best upholds my principals?

If I understand the argument, elections aren't about principal or electing officials who represent their constituents. Elections are about getting a party elected and helping that party consolidate power. We Republicans did that not all that long ago and we know how well that turned out. Was it as disastrous as what we have today? No. But forgive me if I believe that there should be more to elections than voting for the marginally less evil of two evils.

If a third party candidate joins a race, as Doug Hoffman has in NY23, best represents conservative principals, it is wrong to put party above principal. In my own state I support a Republican candidate for the US Senate but he isn't RINO enough to get the support of the NRCC. What message is the party sending to conservatives in this case? What is the party saying to conservative voters in NY23 by their support of Dede Scozzafava who is a Democrat in every way, shape and form except the (R) after her name?

Today the following have called for Scozzafave to withdraw from the race: NRO, RedState, Red Country, Washinton Examiner, Washington Times, Ace of Spades, Big Government, and Michelle Malkin. In light of Scozzafava filing a false police report because she didn't want to answer a reporter's questions, I also believe that she should withdraw. More importantly, this would be a very good time for the party to show that they are not completely tone deaf and withdraw their support.

4 comments:

Tom Degan said...

They have cut the throats of the poor and the middle class.

They have looted our national treasure.

They have abandoned their constituency in favor of a multi-national corporate behemoth and an out-of-control military industrial complex.

They have created a global, geo-political catastrophe in the Middle East that will take at least a century to remedy.

They have shoveled a generation of American children into an untenable slaughterhouse in Iraq.

They have engendered an economic nightmare so immense that generations yet unborn will still be bearing its burden.

They have sold our nation's soul to the highest corporate bidder.

They have made a mockery of the First Amendment.

They have squandered a trillio-plus dollar surplus with a tax cut for a class of people who didn't need it.

They have gutted vital social programs that aid the poor and the elderly which have been in place for over seventy years.

They have gutted laws meant to protect working men and women.

They have plundered the environment.

They have depleted our educational system.

They have hijacked this nation's political dialogue.

They have ruined our international reputation.

They have handed our domestic agenda over to religious fanatics.

They have stolen two national elections.

They have trampled on our constitution.

They have sent our Bill of Rights through the sausage grinder....

They must never - EVER - be allowed to govern our country again.

The grand old party is over.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

Carol said...

Now that is a rant. Damn shame you didn't manage to get one thing right.

Larry Sheldon said...

I long believed that in the case of two unacceptable choices, we were obligated to vote for the one who would do the least damage.

In November of last year I Saw The Light and now acknowledge the error of my ways.

The Truth is that the people who do the damage should be identified by a (D-Xxxxx) after their names ("Damage", "D"). (Democrat or DIABLO--the latter who perversely use the "R" (Right) are to be shunned.

Larry Sheldon said...

Carol, be kind--we have to assume that he got his name right.