I am a member of the Republican Party. I left the party years ago. I left the party and registered as an Independent some time during the George H. W. Bush presidency. I don't remember exactly when, but John McCain was my Senator, and I was fed up with the nonsense of the legislature, the bureaucracy, and I hoped for change. I voted for Ross Perot. He was going to change things.
He did.
I learned.
I had no say when I was not a member of the party. And…I helped create everything that Bill, and Hillary are. Those were precisely the unintended consequences that true conservatives should be looking out for. A conservative does not stand on principal just to stand on principal. A conservative must think things through to logical conclusion (or as Thomas Sowell says, think past Stage One). A conservative should support an effort to help the poor - but in the end, it must actually help the poor. A conservative must have principals, but those principals can not get in the way of reality. They must work to shape our reality. That is a large part of what separates the Left and Right.
And by Right, I do not mean the Republican Party. I mean the Right. I still have problems with the Republican Party. But I have come to learn, like Ron Paul the libertarian, and Bernie Sanders the socialist, that standing on principal alone will get little to nothing accomplished.
Donald Trump was not my candidate. Out of 17, he was number 18. I would not vote for him in a primary no matter what. The primaries are over. I will now vote for Donald Trump. I am not concerned if he can beat Hillary. I will vote for Donald Trump. I am not concerned that I do not agree with him on
I did the math. I agree with Trump more than Clinton, and therefore I will vote for Donald Trump. He does not represent me. In fact, most of the time, he disgusts me. He is not a conservative in any way, and he is a Republican in name only. But either he or Hillary will be President, and there is nothing I can do to change that.* So if I do not vote, since I would never vote for Hillary, that would be helping her. I will vote for Donald Trump.
This post is already long, so I will not go into the details of why Hillary would be a dangerous President, that is for another post, I will not go into the details of why not a "true believer" like Obama, Hillary could be more dangerous, that is for another post. Okay, now I will stop going into the details...
From National Review (yes, the anti-Trump National Review):
True True Conservatism by Andrew McCarthy
...In general, I humbly hope to posit arguments that are good enough to bend things, however slightly, in the right direction. Then I move on to the next round, because I expect no permanent victories or defeats. I continue to think the promotion of liberty is not just an abstraction but works when applied practically. I would not narrowly target the message to evangelicals and to conservatives who already agree with me. Still, politics is always give-and-take. You have to be prepared to listen as well as to advocate; “compromise” is not a dirty word as long as the public good is actually being advanced. Surrender camouflaged as “compromise” and “moderation,” however, is cowardice in a time of fiscal crisis, national-security threat, and the very real possibility that our governing framework is being dismantled irreparably.
The temporary triumph of Trumpism does not change that.
*I would venture that even if indicted, Hillary will remain the nominee. I work primarily violent crime, so no, I'm not working on that.
1 comment:
I've had several people ask me why an indicted Hillary Clinton couldn't continue to run for president. Clearly, she'd still get support from many "progressives" who feel that the law should be an evolving thing, being rewritten continually to suit their momentary whims.
However, I believe that the indictment would gore the ox and would incite the Sanders supporters along with what tiny minority of high propensity Democrat types remain decent, to create a lot of furor at their convention.
Trump reflects a national mood in the GOP that its leadership ignored. They still remain in denial. BUT, Trump will suck up a lot of Democrats in his wake during a national election against the shrill, cackling, crone. Trump will do what Reagan did - surround himself with genuinely good and talented men and women. That's what a CEO does, and he's been an effective CEO. We'll see. I remain hopeful that the Obama Years will be reversed.
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