2004/10/28

Preaching To The Choir III

So it's less than a week to go before the (insert scary announcer voice) MOST IMPORTANT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF OUR GENERATION. Or did that happen in '80 when Jimmy Carter got beat? I dunno. We're still a little close to things. I realized I hadn't finished my muddled explanation of my presidential choice.

As should be obvious now, I'll be voting for George Bush this time around. There's so many problems with his administration I don't know where to start. He spends money like it's water and has presided over the largest expansion of the Federal government in my lifetime. The current Justice Department seems only passingly acquainted with the concept of civil liberties. I could go on like this, but you get the idea. I have lots of issue with the Bush administration.

However, there is one overriding concern in the current election cycle. For at least the past 25 years, we have been engaged in a war with Islamo-fascists. For the vast majority of that time, we weren't paying attention to them engaging us. We ignored the threat until 3,000 people died on September 11th, 2001. George Bush is the only candidate for President that acknowledges this fact. John Kerry thinks it can be reduced to a nuisance. Badnarik thinks we should withdraw from the world and address 'root causes'. Both of these approaches can be described as fundamentally flawed if you are inclined to be charitable. I, not being inclined to charity, think both approaches are completely fucking insane. I am confident that George Bush will continue to fight the specter of Islamo-fascism. I have no such confidence in any other candidate.

The original Libertarian Party candidate is also going Bush this year. Predictably, this leads to squeals of outrage from the hardcore doctrinaire purists about how he's not really a libertarian, &c, &c. After all, disagreement over an issue means you are no longer one of the true believers, right? This is one of the fundamental issues with the LP as an effective organization. The Party spends so much time worrying about ideological purity it is completely ineffective on a practical level. Frankly, the Cato Institute does more for libertarians than the Party ever will.

For more fun voting opinions, check out this article from Reason.

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