Thursday, February 7, 2008

My political post

I don't really talk about politics too often, because the subject frustrates me. Each Presidential election brings us news that is nothing more than "all politics, all the time", so the political discussion is now on my mind. Of course, this frustrates me all over again, so I'm going to use my little slice of the internet to discuss my frustration.....

For most of my adult life I've been a registered Republican. After all, we know that all good Christians (and especially fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals) simply have to support the GOP! This is the same GOP that has given us the President we've had for the past 8 years and is apparently going to throw all its muscle behind a marginal (at best) Republican like John McCain for the upcoming election. The same GOP that turns utterly spineless when at a crossroads with Democratic opposition in the Senate. Quite frankly the GOP has abandoned most of its conservative principles and is causing me to refer to myself as a man without a party.... It frustrates me that the "conservative base" in the GOP are perceived as such dullards that all it takes to get our vote is to attach the term "pro-life" to your name. Equally frustrating is the fact that we've earned that reputation! You have to look no further than how this primary season has shaken out for McCain....a man who is more of a Democrat than Leiberman ever was is getting the vote of conservatives for two reasons...he's pro-life and he takes a good stance on our current war situation.

The only viable conservative that even ran for the Republican nomination this year was Romney (who will have no choice but to drop out soon), yet conservatives by the truckload threw their support behind Huckabee and McCain (who are essentially the exact same on most issues). This upcoming election is likely to pit McCain against Obama......in that scenario I'd likely vote for McCain, but if Clinton wins the Democratic primary I might just vote for her this year. A McCain Presidency would look a lot like a Clinton Presidency with the exception that Clinton has the benefit of being married to a former President. I guess I'll have to see who their running mates are. If the ticket is Clinton / Obama, there's no way I'll vote for it. If McCain chooses someone like Lieberman or Huckabee, I feel the same way. I don't know, maybe this is the year that I don't vote....

By the way, after this primary season is over, I will no longer be registered as a Republican.

2 comments:

Frank Sansone said...

Wow!

Ellis, have you ever actually taken the time to look at the voting records of McCain and Clinton?

Surely McCain has done some stupid things that annoy me, but he does have an over 80% conservative voting record to Clinton's 6%.

This line that they are basically the same fails to look at the reality of their votes and positions.

Also, one of the few things that Clinton has actually stood consistently on over her political career is in her unquestioned support for abortion. McCain has been pretty consistently pro-life.

Frank

Bob Hayton said...

Ellis,

I understand your frustration over politics.

But for some Scriptural reasons, I really became energized with Huckabee and his campaign. He is unfairly maligned and misunderstood/mischaracterized.

I don't think he's going to win. But I do think pro-life concerns are enough to warrant my voting for McCain rather than the Democratic opposition.

Blessings,

Bob Hayton