Dissecting McCain

I’m a conservative. I’m not somebody a Republican candidate would normally have to work too hard to convince. But, McCain, unfortunately for all of us, isn’t a conservative. Not even close. McCain’s overall campaign was truly uninspiring for fiscal conservatives, for social conservatives, and libertarian-minded folks.

I just can’t bring myself to get excited about a guy who is single-handedly responsible for giving Democrats cover to prevent President Bush from appointing hyper-qualified judges to the Federal Bench. How ‘bout that “Gang of 14!” now, eh? Yeah, that looks REALLY good right now. Can you say, “Associate Justice Bill Ayers.” Or how about “Associate Justice Bill Clinton.” Or how about Justice Hillary. Just try stopping it. Neither Harry Reid nor Obama would hesitate for one second to “go nuclear” on the Senate Republicans the minute they try to filibuster an Obama appointee. Should we trust the democrats to be “honorable” and “true to their word” and to “play fair?” Yeah, tell me the one again about how “Hope” and “Change” aren’t a strategy.

I just can’t bring myself to bang the drum for a guy who is responsible for passing the very law that doomed his own candidacy, and will doom the candidacy of every Republican who follows it – McCain Feingold. Not only is that awful law a horribly unconstitutional restriction on the very founding freedoms of this country (the right to be free from having the Federal Government restrict your freedom of speech and assembly) but it shows a profound distrust of the American people, the very people he sought to represent. The answer to campaign finance is to take power AWAY from the government, so that no matter who we elect, it matters less. Less government means MORE FREEDOM. The answer is not to give government even MORE power to decide what we hear, when we hear it, and who pays for it. The Democrat media already does that! That’s the ultimate Democrat wet dream. And McCain is responsible for passing it. Fat lot of goodwill it bought him with the media, too.

Any Republican who thinks that Campaign Finance “Reform” was anything other than a Democrat cudgel to beat Republicans over the head with deserves to lose. The Democrats only pushed campaign finance reform because fundraising efforts couldn’t match Republicans. And ask yourself, why couldn’t the democrats raise enough money to compete with Republicans? Because in a free-market of ideas, their message – which is inherently anti-capitalist and un-American – can’t compete with conservative ideas. There’s simply NOTHING wrong with millions of normal people donating as much money as they please to a campaign they support. NOTHING. Americans know it in their gut, despite the media propaganda they’re constantly subjected to. Not only is it NEVER a bad idea to trust Americans to decide their own destiny, Republicans need the ability to out fundraise Democrats, because the media literally gives the Democrats millions upon billions of dollars of free propaganda every hour of every day. Want proof that campaign finance was a democrat trap from the outset? The INSTANT their fundraising started outpacing McCain, they ditched it. And if McCain thought he was going to get some traction with pointing out Obama’s flip-flop on that issue, well, let’s just say his judgment is suspect.

The Republican Party can’t even remotely hope to win an election without millions of conservatives like me getting fired up because we have a candidate who believes in us and reflects our values. Unless and until Republicans start acting like the conservatives that Reagan was and Palin is, they’ll never win. Given a chance, Americans will vote for conservatism every opportunity they can. But they can’t vote for a conservative, if there isn’t one in the race. Period.