My Choice for President

If you are new to this blog, you should start by reading my first two posts.   My first post reviewed my reasons for starting the blog, and my second post contained an overview of my political philosophy.   Scroll below until you find them. 

After reading my first two posts, a good friend suggested I support a write-in candidate for President of the United States instead of either John McCain or Barak Obama.  I was tempted to do so.  As a practical matter, however, I only have two alternatives if I want to have a say in choosing the next President:  McCain or Obama.   If you have read the overview of my political philosophy, you will not be surprised to hear I am supporting McCain.   I was not enthusiastic about McCain when it became apparent several months ago that he would win the Republican nomination for President.   I am somewhat more enthusiastic about him now after reflecting on the stark differences between his positions and Obama’s positions on some of the major challenges and problems facing the country.

I have been disappointed in both the McCain and Obama campaigns.   Both candidates promised to run clean campaigns and to end the partisanship that has affected every aspect of political debate in this country.   So far, I have not seen any indication that either campaign is any different from the partisan campaigns of the past.   Instead of a fresh approach, both campaigns seem to be conducting business as usual.  Maybe this is just the nature of politics, but both sides distort and misrepresent the positions of the other side and use their surrogates to attack each other, sometimes viciously, while denying any involvement.   Based on the current campaigns, I am not optimistic that the bitter partisanship that has poisoned the political discourse in this country will end regardless of who is elected.

In order to make an informed decision, you have to ignore the campaign rhetoric and hard-hitting and misleading advertisements and judge the candidates based on their records and their positions.    Within the next several weeks, I will be explaining why I am supporting McCain by examining the records of the two candidates and by discussing the differences between their positions on important issues.

I have told you about my political philosophy, which is the same thing as telling you about my bias and admitting that I have a bias.   Everyone is biased.  I am biased in favor of positions that are consistent with my political philosophy as discussed below.    In discussing a candidate’s position, I will do my best to be accurate while at the same time keeping my discussion brief and simple.    Most issues, however, are extremely complex, and it is difficult to be brief, simple, and completely accurate all at the same time.  There are always nuances and qualifications that could be added to any discussion.   If I misrepresent a candidate’s position, my misrepresentations will not be intentional, and I apologize in advance for doing so.  

 

My Overall Political Philosophy

At the outset, I want to give you some insight into my political philosophy so that you will be able to understand and evaluate the comments and observations that I will be making on this blog.   Many of you will not agree with my philosophy, which is fine.  If you don't agree with my philosophy, I hope you have a philosophy of your own.  I don't think you can have an informed opinion about the important issues facing this country without developing an underlying philosophy on which to base your opinion.

By way of background, I want to acknowledge that I was once a liberal but am now a conservative.  Yes, I used to be a liberal.  I was never on the far-left fringes like many of my friends in the 1960s, but I was still a liberal.  I was born and raised to be a Democrat, and I considered myself to be a Democrat until I was close to 40 years old.  I hate to admit it, but I even voted for Jimmy Carter and against Ronald Reagan during the 1980 Presidential campaign.

I gradually shifted from being a liberal to being a conservative during the 1980s after reflecting on my life experiences and the failure of the so-called "progressive" policies that I once supported.  Even though I voted against President Reagan in 1980, I developed great respect for him, and I am sure his conservative philosophy rubbed off on me and played a role in my conversion from being a liberal to being a conservative.  Another factor in my conversion was my career change in 1983, when I gave up a partnership in a large law firm to become General Counsel of one of my clients.  As a partner in a law firm, I was a beneficiary of extensive government regulations.  The firm's business clients paid us a lot of money to help them sort through and comply with regulations.  As the General Counsel of a company, I had a budget for legal expenses, and I was met face-to-face with the costs that businesses incur to comply with regulations.  These costs, of course, represent a burden on the entire economy because they ultimately get passed along to consumers.  All of us pay the price for government regulations.  It is embedded into the cost of everything we purchase.

Why do I label myself as a conservative?  As a matter of general philosophy, I believe in limited government, low taxes, free markets, free trade, policies that are favorable to business and that encourage investment and job creation, and policies that encourage individual and personal responsibility rather than dependence.  Most liberals, on the other hand, support policies that result in extensive government regulation, high government spending, and high taxes.  In my opinion, the policies supported by most liberals have the effect of penalizing success and personal achievement, creating an unfavorable climate for business and thereby resulting in the creation of fewer new jobs, and creating large numbers of citizens who are dependent upon government for their livelihood.

Almost everyone I know agrees that government does not do anything well.  Nevertheless, politicians, especially liberals, continue to press for more government programs and more government involvement in virtually all aspects of the economy.  Our nation faces some of its most serious problems in areas where we already have extensive government regulation and interference.  These areas include, but are not limited to, education, health care, and energy. Why, then, does it make sense to want more government regulation and interference in these same areas?  It seems to me, as President Reagan once said, that government is the problem--not the solution. 

Does my conservative philosophy mean that I do not want the government to help people in need?   No, it does not.  I think there is a role for the government to help people under certain circumstances.  I do not believe, however, that it is government's responsibility to meet the needs of its citizens from cradle to grave.   In my opinion, existing government entitlement programs are excessive, have created too much dependence on government, and are expanding at a rate that is not sustainable.  To make matters worse, politicians, in an effort to get elected, are constantly proposing even more programs that would cost billions of dollars and shift even more responsibilities from individuals to the government.   As an individual, I feel strongly that I have an obligation to help people in need, but I think the best way for me to do this is by supporting religious organizations and charities, which in most cases operate far more efficiently than the government.  As the government becomes more involved in providing social welfare programs, citizens feel less responsibility to take care of themselves and their own family members and to support the programs provided by religious organizations and charities.

I want to emphasize that I am referring to myself as a conservative and not as a Republican.   I have been very disappointed in the Republican Party in recent years.  President Bush is a Republican but he has not governed as a conservative.  Moreover, Republicans squandered a tremendous opportunity when they controlled both houses of Congress.  Instead of operating ethically and promoting conservative principles, they let their power go to their heads.   They deserved to lose their power, and they did.

In my next post, I will disclose who I am supporting for President and the United States, and I will start giving you my reasons for supporting the candidate of my choice.

Introduction

I have created this blog so that I will have a forum to express my views about current events, politics, contemporary culture, and other matters that interest me from time to time.   I have always followed current events fairly closely, and I try to keep up with what is going on in the political arena.   I realize I would live a much happier life if I could disregard politicians and politics and not worry about current events or our declining culture.   Despite trying, however, I have not been able to wean myself from the daily news, and I always have views that I would like to express to those who are willing to listen.   I know many of my friends and relatives will disagree with some and possibly all of my views.   That's O.K.   That's what makes the world go around.   I will always welcome your comments.   There will be a place for your comments below each of my posts.   We don't have to agree, but I hope we will always respect and be courteous to each other.    I have spent very little time reading other blogs, but I understand that many of them contain hateful and outrageous comments.   If the comments on this blog are not respectful, then I will terminate the blog.   

 

Within the next few days, I will provide some background regarding my political philosophy, and I will disclose who I am supporting for President of the United States.   I will then have a series of posts dealing with some of the important issues involved in the current Presidential election. Thereafter, I will provide additional posts from time to time giving my views about current events and other matters of interest to me.   I hope you enjoy the blog.   Walter