Posted by
Steve on Monday, February 25, 2008 7:29:55 PM
Rush Limbaugh said something interesting today in his monologue. He said that he is a conservative more that he is a Republican. That means that he is a conservative first and a Republican second. If the two positions come into conflict, the conservative position wins and the Republican loses. I feel the same way.
I believe in conservative principles. I am a small government, fiscal conservative. I can also be called a social conservative and a foreign policy conservative. The small government, fiscal conservative position would have to be first. That gives me Libertarian leanings, but the foreign policy conservative precludes my being a Libertarian. When there is a candidate that is a small government, fiscal conservative running, that is where I will cast my vote. A social conservative can get my vote if there is no fiscal conservative in the race. That is why I supported Mitt Romney over Mike Huckabee. Mitt Romney was a small government conservative who is also a social conservative. Mike Huckabee is only a social conservative. Mike Huckabee is a big government liberal and a foreign policy moderate. John McCain used to be a small government conservative, then he drank the inside the beltway kool-aid and became a big government liberal.
My Congressman, Jeff Flake, is a small government conservative. That is why I worked for him in his first election to Congress and why I have continued to support him. If we had more Republican Congressmen like Jeff Flake, we would have a large Republican majority in the House and a large Senate delegation, also. Unfortunately, the House Republicans cannot see that Jeff Flake is the wave of the future and so they did not put him on the Appropriations Committee. Had they put him on the committee, it would have signaled that the Republicans are serious about fiscal issues. Not putting him on has signaled that the House Republicans are still locked in the past few years of big government and earmarks.
I generally support the Republican candidate, because the Republican candidate is closest to my position, I do not always support the Republican candidate. I support the most conservative candidate that I can find. No candidate is ever perfect. No candidate ever agrees with me on all the issues. All I can hope for is one that agrees with me on most of the issues. In the election for President in 2008, I do not have any candidate that I agree with even 50%. That is a real problem for me. I cannot give whole hearted support to any candidate. John McCain comes closest to my positions. I agree with John McCain about 40-45% of the time. I agree with Barack Obama and Mrs. Clinton 0% of the time. I will probably end up supporting John McCain, but it will be with real misgivings. The only reason he gets my support is that the other two candidates are so bad there is no way I could let them win with a clear conscience.
My hope is that John McCain will select someone that I can support as a running mate. There are quite a few that would qualify. Condi Rice has taken her name out of consideration, but she would be good. J.C. Watts from Oklahoma would be a good selection. He is a strong conservative. Mitt Romney would be good, but McCain does not like him very much. Newt Gingrich would be great, but he would bring a lot of baggage. There are some others, but I hope he does not select a liberal like the Governor of Minnesota.
For Republicans, it is wait and see time. We have to wait and see who McCain will select as a running mate. He now knows who his opponent will be, so he can work on a running mate. Let’s hope he gets good advice. If he calls me, I could help set him straight.