Every four years, the same sort of kabuki electoral ritual plays out. The Republican Party leaders sequestered in Washington, D.C., select a few moderate Republicans, declare them to be fine, upstanding conservatives and do their best to cram them down the collective throat of the Republican base. These efforts are lauded by the parasitic neocons, faux conservatives and religious leaders that dominate the supposedly "conservative" commentariat. The party elite and media join forces to convince the actual conservatives and republicans by whom they are sustained that these moderates are not only the party's only hope for victory, but are also double-secret conservatives.
Consider the Republican Party's candidates over the last six elections: George Bush, George Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain. Looking at the first five with the benefit of hindsight, do any of these men possess seriously conservative or republican credentials? As for the sixth man, McCain, his conservative credentials are by far the weakest, as his pro-bailout, pro-migration, anti-free speech, anti-constitutional judge positions should suffice to demonstrate. The evidence of his long career in the Senate indicates that he would actually govern to the left of George W. Bush, who has been the worst Republican president of this century and may well be the worst president in United States history ... to date.
Except for the 1992 and 2000 elections, in which Republicans actually believed both Bush the Elder's and Bush the Younger's false claims to have inherited Ronald Reagan's ideological mantle, conservatives have correctly declared their doubts about the Republican standard bearer. And each time, the party leaders and their collaborators in the media have done their best to scare the doubters back into the fold. As the election approaches and the pressure grows, people abandon their principles one by one and fall back into line. Even Ann Coulter is now wavering on her very public and repeated declarations of non-support for John McCain, as Republican panic about Obama's lead in the polls reaches a fever pitch.
But consider what decades of a pragmatic approach have brought Republicans. What does it profit a party to gain the White House but lose its ideological soul? The nation now stands at the very verge of bankruptcy and a collapse into open authoritarian rule primarily due to Republicans compromising on their core principles of small and limited government. More government was not the answer when George Bush I raised taxes or when George Bush II turned over financial czardom to the very Wall Street bankers who created the derivatives mess in the first place. More government will not be the answer, regardless of whether it is John McCain or Barack Obama who is signing the Democratic House and Senate's latest expansion of federal power over the American people into law. More government will never be the answer, no matter how great the crisis that is used to justify it.
Democrats must bear some of the blame, of course. But Democrats are supposed to support more government. It has been the core principle of their party for at least the last 76 years, and if they can be faulted for having been less than truthful about this upon occasion, their shameless dissembling is still orders of magnitude less dishonest than the gap between Republican promises and Republican actions. I would never vote for a culturally foreign socialist such as Barack Obama, but it cannot be denied that those who vote for Obama hoping for more government will get what they expect – if not necessarily in the positive form they would like – whereas those who vote for McCain hoping for less government are doomed to the same bitter regret that conservatives who were fooled by George W. Bush have known for four years or more.
As I have repeatedly warned since 2003, pragmatic and unprincipled politics have destroyed the Republican brand, prevented the party from implementing any of its platform when in power and now promise to lead to a Democratic supermajority. To blame for this are many of the very individuals who will be vehemently urging you to vote for John McCain to stop the abominable Obama. And Obama is abominable, but the fact is that his presidency will be very little different than a McCain presidency. Even the one difference that is often cited is implausible, as it is simply impossible to imagine the Senate's former Mr. Congeniality battling a Democratic House and Democratic Senate to the death in defense of conservative, Constitution-respecting judges.
The time to save the republic was during the Republican nomination, when the only candidate who understood the financial dangers it faces was still in the running. But a party so foolish as to reject a Ron Paul in favor of a John McCain neither understands the real issues at stake nor does it merit the support of conservatives, constitutionalists or libertarians. As long as the Republican Party stands for Democrat light, those who value small government and human freedom cannot reasonably support it, even if the Democrats are represented by the second coming of Stalin himself.
When presented with a choice between Bolshevik and Menshevik, the only rational choice, the only sane choice, is to refuse to choose.