Sorry, it has been a while since I posted. My wife has been sick, I have been sick, I lost my part-time job, etc… So far 08 has been a bummer. Things are looking up though. We seem to be coming out of the worst of it and hopefully things will start looking up soon.
A lot has happened since I last posted a topic. John McCain is now the Republican nominee for president. It looks like he may chose Mike Huckabee as running mate though names, such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have also been floated as possible VP candidates. I know McCain is not the staunch conservative many in the party want as their candidate but he strikes me as a practical man who looks at problems and tries to solve them based on reality not ideology. An example, the reality of illegal immigration is there is no good way to stop it short of militarizing the border. There are ways to staunch the flow. But there are by some estimates 20-30 million illegal immigrants in the country now. There is no viable way to remove them. There needs to be a way to absorb them into the populace. McCain realizes this. He is in favor of tightening the border but also wants to find a way to bring the rest into the fold, as it were. On other issues he seems to bring the same practicality to the table. I can support a man who is willing to look at the reality of the situation and move to fix it in practical ways instead of someone who has an ideological vision whose actions would end up harming the system more than helping it. The government needs healing and I don’t believe that will happen with any other candidate.
McCain hasn’t got the nomination in the bag just yet. No, I don’t think Paul has a prayer of getting it (nor did I think it was any more than a long shot even from the beginning) but Huckabee could turn out to be a contender. True, he’d have to pretty much take the majority (if not all) of the delegates in every remaining state, but it is possible.
I wish Romney hadn’t dropped out. I may have said this when I was talking to you on the phone the other day, but if we take him at his word, he’s the candidate I would support over McCain and Huckabee if I were forced to vote for one of the three. In my mind, he’s the lesser evil of the three.
On the other hand, McCain’s “practical ways” of fixing the problems are no better than marijuana to patient with lung cancer. Severe problems require severe measures, not reassuring platitudes and feel-good “solutions.” But I know you don’t agree, since you think we Libertarians are a bunch of naive ideologues.
I forgot to add that while Romney is the most desireable of the three, taken at his word, I wouldn’t buy a used car from the man. I’m not convinced I can trust him.
Of the remaining two, I like McCain the most personally. I have a great deal of respect for him despite my differences of opinion with him. I wouldn’t mind meeting him and having a cup of coffee or a beer with him.
Huckabee is a great orator (he was a preacher, after all), and he’s funny. However, he’s got too many ethics scandals to his name. If we take the high road and assume he’s naive, the repeated ethics investigations and his habit of appointing people to positions after they give him gifts or money is still disturbing. From that angle, he’s a good man that has done things that could allow people to take advantage of him. Whether malicious or not, that’s not the kind of man we need in the White House.