WHY I MAY VOTE FOR HILLARY/OBAMA
Yes, I may end up having to take the plunge at the polling place and vote for a Democrat this year. No, I've not suddenly gone limp, nor have I lost my mind. I just remember that time-worn adage about those who don't remember history, and how they're condemned to repeat it. And really, you don't have to go far back in time to recognize what part of history I'm trying badly to repeat.
Thirty years seems like such a long time, doesn't it? I'm not too young to remember the damage the James Earl Carter administration did to this country, both domestically and abroad. Look at the legacy: two new, bloated cabinet departments; tax increases; failed revivals of Social Security; fuel shortages (and the first big step towards the gas prices we see today); stagflation; sky-high interest rates; high unemployment; amnesty for draft evaders; the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which effectively shut down ANWR for oil exploration; intended to lower troop levels in South Korea, but was prevented; defense of the administrations of the Sandanistas in Nicaragua and Mugabe in Zimbabwe; the process of turning over the Panama Canal to Panama (and apparently China); and finally, the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Those were salad days, weren't they? And unfortunately, if you want a REAL Reagan Republican we may have to go back to a Carterlike administration to bring back the tax-heavy malaise of yesteryear. In case you all had forgotten, Ronald Reagan himself lost the Republican nomination for president in 1976. Then, four years later, when we'd finally had enough, Reagan was swept into office and began some of the greatest changes in America's political, economic, and military landscape in history.
Having said that, I encourage you not to lose hope.... in conservatism. Forget McCain, he's bound to bring us four more years of Democratic venom and blame. Let's go ahead and SHIFT the blame, shall we, to a Democratic candidate... let them take responsibility for their liberal pettiness and phony promises. Only when we are taken once again to the depths of malaise will the Republican Party wake up from its misguided concessionary attitude toward liberalism.
My only hope, of course, is that the consequences of my vote next year will not happen so rapidly, burn too deep that recovery would be impossible. I guess I'll just have to close my eyes and pray.
Thirty years seems like such a long time, doesn't it? I'm not too young to remember the damage the James Earl Carter administration did to this country, both domestically and abroad. Look at the legacy: two new, bloated cabinet departments; tax increases; failed revivals of Social Security; fuel shortages (and the first big step towards the gas prices we see today); stagflation; sky-high interest rates; high unemployment; amnesty for draft evaders; the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which effectively shut down ANWR for oil exploration; intended to lower troop levels in South Korea, but was prevented; defense of the administrations of the Sandanistas in Nicaragua and Mugabe in Zimbabwe; the process of turning over the Panama Canal to Panama (and apparently China); and finally, the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Those were salad days, weren't they? And unfortunately, if you want a REAL Reagan Republican we may have to go back to a Carterlike administration to bring back the tax-heavy malaise of yesteryear. In case you all had forgotten, Ronald Reagan himself lost the Republican nomination for president in 1976. Then, four years later, when we'd finally had enough, Reagan was swept into office and began some of the greatest changes in America's political, economic, and military landscape in history.
Having said that, I encourage you not to lose hope.... in conservatism. Forget McCain, he's bound to bring us four more years of Democratic venom and blame. Let's go ahead and SHIFT the blame, shall we, to a Democratic candidate... let them take responsibility for their liberal pettiness and phony promises. Only when we are taken once again to the depths of malaise will the Republican Party wake up from its misguided concessionary attitude toward liberalism.
My only hope, of course, is that the consequences of my vote next year will not happen so rapidly, burn too deep that recovery would be impossible. I guess I'll just have to close my eyes and pray.
posted by Pietro @ 11:12 AM
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