Why I’m Voting Obama

For a long time I have been debating the virtues of both major party presidential candidates and I have only today been convinced of the clear choice. As an aside, I do believe that a vote for a third party candidate like Bob Barr or others is a wasted vote. Others – including my brother – disagree, but until the major news media outlets give any coverage whatsoever to one of these candidates they logically have no chance of winning. A vote cast for your dog or the old guy that washes your window at the stoplight has just as much relevance in my mind. Again, good people disagree with me on this point. Unfortunately, it’s not 50 million good people.

Today I came across two separate but similar articles that pretty much summed up my thoughts on the current election. Some of these thoughts have been dormant for a while, nagging feelings that I had difficulty putting into words. Both of these authors are prominent conservatives who are voting for Obama. Take a break from my drivel and give them a read, then continue.

A Conservative For Obama

The Right Choice? A Conservative Case For Obama

Why I’m a conservative

The above articles cover this very well, as I agree with both authors on what true conservatism represents. Perhaps the best quote that sums up my position brilliantly:

Conservatism to me is less a political philosophy than a stance, a recognition of the fallibility of man and of man’s institutions. Conservatives respect the past not for its antiquity but because it represents, as G.K. Chesterton said, the democracy of the dead; it gives the benefit of the doubt to customs and laws tried and tested in the crucible of time. Conservatives are skeptical of abstract theories and utopian schemes, doubtful that government is wiser than its citizens, and always ready to test any political program against actual results.

From the other article, also excellent (though bulleted):

• a commitment to individual liberty, tempered by the conviction that genuine freedom entails more than simply an absence of restraint;
• a belief in limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the rule of law;
• veneration for our cultural inheritance combined with a sense of stewardship for Creation;
• a reluctance to discard or tamper with traditional social arrangements;
• respect for the market as the generator of wealth combined with a wariness of the market’s corrosive impact on humane values;
• a deep suspicion of utopian promises, rooted in an appreciation of the sinfulness of man and the recalcitrance of history.

I completely support these tenets and could probably add a few more minor ones, but this is a pretty decent summary.

Why I think Obama is the best candidate for conservatives

First, set aside the abortion issue. This is incredibly difficult for some, as it was for me. Abortion is an abomination, one that neither presidential candidate gets right. Sidenote: Sarah Palin gets this one right, the one thing I agree with her on, near as I can tell. Logically, if your main argument against abortion is the separation of the mother’s life, future, choices, etc. from that of the baby, how could you support abortion in cases of rape and incest? And if that’s how you list your official position on the subject, how is that not a “stand” based purely on political pandering with no personal conviction on the subject? And since when does this political pandering translate into legislative action? Never. So stop it with the abortion thing, and move on to issues where the candidates actually differ (again, from a belief standpoint, not a vote-getting marketing standpoint).

We now have an administration and Republican candidate that have done nothing to warrant support from real conservatives. Where conservatives should be suspicious of “utopian promises,” Bush claims the goal of ridding the world of evil and McCain’s rhetoric has proven to be even more troubling in this regard. The national debt has grown exponentially with little to no benefit for the taxpayers whose lives the government exists to serve. Tax cuts and credits sound nice and temporarily seem to provide relief for struggling middle class families – until the economy finally collapses and retirement savings evaporate. Religious and social conservatives may argue that removing basic “human rights” for terrorism suspects isn’t really a problem because we don’t really have “rights” (trust me, I’ve heard it). Perhaps not, but we do have the God-given admonition to love others as we love ourselves. Remember that not even all religious conservatives are white suburbanites that receive an automatic pass when it comes to racial profiling.

And that pesky war. Under McCain, not only will the Iraq war continue indefinitely, but we will become involved in lots of nice little wars in our national effort to play superhero to the world. The government will continue to grow at home and abroad, something true conservatism has always hated at its core. From one of the previously mentioned articles:

Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.

I’ve thought of many other things to say, but I don’t want to belabor my points or become overly tangental. Suffice to say that for conservatives who really believe in conservative ideals like the ones mentioned above, Obama is the only real choice in this election. Even if McCain and Co. succeed in this obsession with cleaning up all the world’s problems through military action in the name of security and defense, what will be left domestically to defend?

This entry was posted on November 03rd, 2008 and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.