Posted by
Dennis Goldston on Sunday, February 10, 2008 1:17:09 PM
(I wrote this e-mail in response to Debra Saunder's column which suggested that some of us want to be victims and losers because we refuse to support John McCain)
Dear Ms, Saunders
I'm disappointed at the way you twist the very essence of logic (and I'm quite sure you know better). Your syllogism is that because I refuse to vote for John McCain, I have a desire to be a loser. I could play loosely with logic in the same way by accusing you of wanting to be a loser because you're willing to sacrifice principle for expediency. Instead, I will examine the very arguments you put forth. You claim, for example, that "we" (I assume you mean Conservatives) "won" by stopping the Immigration Reform Bill. In purely literal terms, we did achieve a tactical victory, but even that temporary victory was achieved by standing on principle at a time when Republican "leaders" like John McCain and George W. Bush were either suggesting we were racists (McCain) or we were trying to alienate an important voting block (Hispanics). Do you really believe John McCain has changed his views on this issue? If Republican leaders had actually changed their mind, we wouldn't still be asking why the border fence hasn't been built. That same Immigration Reform package (or possibly something worse) would surely be one result of a McCain victory in November. You also cite the appointment of Supreme Court justices. I would ask you to see how Scalia and Thomas voted on McCain-Feingold, and how the two newest justices (Roberts and Alito) appear to view it. What are you smoking that causes you to imagine that John McCain would actually appoint the kind of justices who might strike down his precious Campaign Reform Act? And in the cruelest blow of all, you cite tax cuts, failing to mention, of course, that John McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts. The Republican Party was the majority party in the House of Representatives from 1994 until 2006, and we had a Republican President for 6 of those years plus a Republican Senate for a smaller portion. And, yet, all we could get was TEMPORARY tax cuts with no cuts in spending. If we have learned nothing over the years about how the Left fights tax cuts, we deserve to be a minority party. They fight the cuts with every ounce of strength they can muster, and only when they see they can't win that way, they fall back on their tried and true method of making them irrelevant. They use their willing accomplices -- moderate Republicans -- to vastly increase spending. When the obvious result -- large deficits -- occurs, they scream that tax cuts are to blame. Where were Republicans when all those appropriation bills were glutted with earmarks? Where was President Bush's veto pen? If I don't stand for something, I stand for nothing. What do you stand for, Ms. Saunders? I am 61 years old, and I've voted in every election since I became eligible, so I know what it's like to vote for a candidate who isn't the one I would have chosen personally. When I was 14, I was delighted with the election of JFK, and I considered myself a Democrat. But 1976 was the last time I voted for any Democrat (and I was embarrassed then), and, just as Ronald Reagan said, I did not feel I had left the Democratic Party; they left me. The last time the Republican Party nominated a true Conservative for President was 1984. In the 6 elections since then (I'm counting the upcoming 2008 election), they've given us George H. W. Bush twice, Bob Dole once, and George W. Bush twice. These are fine men, but some of them couldn't even spell Conservative (George H. W. Bush), and one of them had the idea that it was necessary to put the word "compassionate" in front of the word "conservative" or else people would assume we were cruel, heartless bigots. And, now, we are offered John McCain, who sneers at Conservatives and still seethes over what happened to him in South Carolina during the 2000 campaign. I assure you, Ms. Saunders, that I have NEVER wanted to be a loser in my life (I was the first on my father's side of the family to earn a college degree and I served 24+ years in the Air Force, rising to the rank of Colonel). But if I were to vote for John McCain, I would surely be a loser because I would have lost something far more precious than a mere election. I would have lost my dignity, my self-respect, and my principles. And for you or anyone else in the Republican Party to suggest that my principled refusal to vote for a man who abhors my values will make ME to blame for the victory of the candidate from the far Left is scurilous and outrageous. If I live 20 more years, I will likely be telling my grandchildren that the last Republican candidate for president that I voted for was George W. Bush in 2004 (and I will add that I was embarrassed by that), but that I didn't leave the Republican Party; they left me.
Dennis Goldston