I have talked to many Conservatives who feel betrayed by the current administration. Many people, I included, voted for the President with hesitation…and now feel betrayed by a President who they feel betrayed many of the principles on which he ran. The answer that many people come up with is to only vote for a candidate who meets their principles…whether or not he or she is running on a major party ticket. They suggest that voting for a ‘lesser of two evils’ is a betrayal of principle. One’s vote is precious, and should be reserved for a candidate for which one wishes to actually win…not a candidate who needs to be elected because his or her opponent is so much worse.
There is much to be said for this…but that point of view is missing a larger point. Voting one’s conscience, instead of voting for a purpose, does not take into account the place the United States holds in the world. It is not only our nation which is at risk when an incompetent such as John Kerry is elected President…it is civilization itself, and the debt we owe to past centuries of individuals who have sacrificed and struggled to build what we have today.
I wrote here that Western culture is the salvation of the world; if the United States, the inheritor of the mantle that the leadership of Western Civilization represents, falls, so does civilization in the world itself. I wrote here that the United States serves as a de-facto world government; we ARE the world, to quote an infamous song. The United States is the only place that most of the world can look to for the type of security and services that a government is supposed to provide. We also provide a hope, by example, and by actual deeds, for millions of people that their own lives can be improved. We have a debt and a responsibility when we vote, not only to us, but to those who got us where we are, and to those who will follow us. We are not voting simply to make us feel good, we are fighting a war against barbarism. We are fighting to uphold and defend a legacy that goes back thousands of years, and we are fighting for a potential future where everyone in the world has the opportunity to achieve their full potential…and for the opportunity to harness the full potential of everyone in the world to the benefit of humanity. That is what Capitalism and Democracy are about.
Voting is thus not simply a personal choice. Throwing away one’s vote by voting for a candidate who has no possibility of winning an election opens up the potential that we could lose. We are fighting anti-Democratic mindsets, both domestically and internationally that would impose tyranny on the world. Leftism is tyrannical; they do not believe that people can govern themselves, they believe that people have to be told what to do for their own good. They are the enemy of civilization. Religious fanatics are intolerant, and have no intention of allowing people to make free choices. We simply do not have the luxury of throwing away something as precious as a vote. We are at WAR, here…and we have no lock on winning this war. We could very well lose.
I am not advocating, here, blind allegiance to Democratic or Republican choices. We should, in fact, we are obligated, to work for the candidate of our choice. If we believe someone has a point of view that is a valuable addition to the American scene, it is very important that we put this point of view in front of the public. With enough exposure, perhaps that person can get to the point of nomination.
We are a two-party system, and it is very unlikely that a third party candidate will be elected for high political office. It is a tragedy of our American political scene that it is so hard for dark horse candidates to get elected for the Presidency…but that is our reality. Once that nomination is made, that is the choice available to us…and we have to choose one or the other party’s candidate.
Thus, sometimes the best we can do is vote for the least objectionable candidate…because the alternative is to lose a battle. If we lose enough battles, we lose the struggle for survivale…and our children will be the ones to suffer…and we will have betrayed those who came before.
SO…don’t vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate…vote for the one who is best able to keep us alive and whole, here. It might even be a Democrat; simply because the Republicans are in the right, here, does not mean that they will stay that way. Vote for civilization, and the future. Keep that in mind.