I watched the debates last night and didn't see anything to get hopeful about. Both candidates want to establish mandatory service. Both want more government control over the economy. Both think greed rules the market place. Both have bought into the Global Warming nonsense, the obesity scare too.
I did see where McCain is in favor of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) where Obama was not. And McCain said he was in favor of vouchers and some kind of choice for parents to decide to which schools to send their kids.
I haven't been moved to vote for either one yet so I may still vote for Obama for pres and for straight Republicans for everyone else to give Obama more Resistance.
Or I'll vote for neither but since the Dems control congress, I might vote for Repubs just for balance. Republicans like to pretend they stand for something when they're not in power.
I was dismayed at how many so-called ordinary citizens who were interviewed afterward made their choice based on appearances, on how one or the other 'came across' or 'sounded.'
Sheesh! This is depressing.
2 comments:
Why is Obama seemingly the default Objectivist candidate here? Because McCain is a darling of the religious right? Because he's a pragmatist? Because he's seen as a defender of capitalism?
I don't understand the strategy. Was there a "It's Time for the Gulch" memo that I didn't get?
Why is McCain beyond the pale of consideration?
Bill Brown:
First, there is no set or universal "Time for the Gulch". That time is in every person's own life context. When you've had enough of voting for the lesser of two evils you will know it. Atlas Shrugged was a story of just this point. It showed how many different, productive people eventually came to understand that accepting a little poison with their food only leads to larger doses of the poison until you are faced with the choice of accepting a lethal dose or rejecting the poison completely. This election is not yet the lethal dose of statism, but both are bad medicine.
I don't speak for any objectivists other than myself. In fact, I think some will be voting for McCain if for no other reason than that he will be stronger on defense than Obama. McCain won't be beyond the pale of consideration until election day. I could see myself voting for him if he were to come out and identify the bureaucracies he would dismantle. Reagan said he would do away with the Dept of Education. Because education is so important, I might consider voting for McCain but he won't do anything more than rearrange the deck chairs in my opinion.
Obama is an unprincipled power luster but of a second hand nature like the Clintons and will bend in the direction of any political wind. As long as he has power he will feel like a moral person even if he can't always get his way. That's one of the reasons I think an Obama presidency will provide more time for Objectivism to spread than McCain. With 3 weeks to go, I still may not vote for either. My 'time for the Gulch' hasn't arrived yet and voting for neither doesn't mean that I'm packing my bags.
Post a Comment