Why I Can Never Be a Democrat
After the mess NATO helped exacerbate in Serbia and Bosnia, I was refreshed to hear George W. Bush pledge not to advocate nation building during his campaign back in 1999-2000. Nation building used to be a perjorative back in the 80s and 90s - which is why Afghanistan didn't get a lot of help from us after the Soviets left, and why Bush 41 left Saddam in power in Iraq. I was appalled when Clinton's bombing of Iraq combined with sanctions left 500,000 poor Iraqi children dead. Even more so when our first female Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, justified the deaths as necessary. Add to this Clinton's reach for legislative power through the executive order - and back then it seemed that any Republican would do.
Boy, things certainly improved - didn't they?
Iraq is in shambles, we now rattle our saber towards Iran, and torture is legal while habeas corpus is not. If Jack Bauer was real, he would be proud.
Many pundits think that the Democrats will win the day today - and they might. These guys think otherwise. In any case, I am not voting today - since I can't vote for Rep. Ron Paul in Texas or Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in Maryland, the only two guys I actually want to win. I am certainly not voting for the Republicans again, but I could never be a Democrat.
While the GOP is home of the white suburban/rural evangelical Christian with whom I can share an uneasy peace - Democrats are a different story all together. Taken individually, I can agree with them on certain issues - after all who didn't love Rep. Jim Trafficant from Ohio. Even Bill Clinton implemented some good policies, after the Geniffer Flowers/Paula Jones scandal taught him his base would stay with him no matter what he did against their wishes.
As a whole, however, Democrats tend to support policies that strengthen government to the detriment of ordinary people. Which is against my thinking at its core. Democrats also largely consider abortion on demand as an article of faith - whereas I am against it, and prefer that legislation for or against be handled at a state level. Lastly I believe in every free man's right to bear arms - and that no man is truly free if he is prohibited from doing so. Many Democrats would be happy to disarm the whole law-abiding citizenry. Just as recent as last year, city and state government in Louisiana tried to confiscate the arms of citizens trying to defend themselves against the looters that the whole world witnessed doing their dirty work on TV.
Instead, I will vote for/against the miscellaneous amendments and ballot issues of my home state - and I will only support a candidate if he is good on guns, and has a reputation for keeping his word. Hopefully I won't have to move to the 14th District of Texas to make that happen.
Labels: Ron_Paul
another tale spun by ColeTrain @ 1:40 PM
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I want to make a quick comment about Iraq and the Democrats. Let's remember that that Democrats, post-9/11, supported nearly everything Bush did, including the invasion of Iraq. Let me repeat: The Democrats supported the invasion of Iraq AND STILL DO. All of this political B.S. is commentary "after the fact". The Dems only claim they could have "managed things" better, not that they would have never invaded to begin with. Pelosi, Kennedy, Obama and every other Democrat stood there and applauded Bush's fight against the "Axis of Evil" and his invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. They are just as guilty as Bush, and to believe that we can trust them to appropriately bring troops home and "run things better" than a Republican administration is pure B.S. Thus, a vote for the Dems is just as stupid as a vote for the Republicans if you care about the troops and want to bring an end to the "nation building" Matt mentions. This is why yours truly did not vote. There are no candidates, at least for a libertarian like myself, who would honestly demand for all troops to be withdrawn now and put an end to foreign welfare subsidies (called aide).
This is ridrunkulous, people. The Gore administration (if only....(*sigh*)) would have managed to get Osama out in Tora Bora instead of bungling it up and would NOT, can I repeat NOT invaded a sovereign nation for no decent reason. That ball is square in the court of the Project for a New American Century crowd (whose assistant director was a Wash U guy in my class). I believe the idea of 'dealing with the devil you know' and Bush Senior's very savvy work in Iraq to leave Hussein, (a bad guy, but a guy who you knew exactly what you were going to get) I have a feeling that a Dem administration would've left well enough alone, in terms of American interests.
Now did all the spineless senators and reps vote for all this Patriot garbage and an Iraq invasion. Yeah, they did. Should they be chastised. Absolutely. What can be done about it in hindsight? Nothin'. We just need to get the whole darn imbroglio handled and get outta there! I'm with the angler, we need to pull foreign aid and we need to get the heck outta the Middle East.
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