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In part II of my continuing series (part I is here) on who I will NOT vote for in the Maryland Primary, I focus on my next subject/victim: Senator John McCain.
Yes, Senator McCain is a hero of the Vietnam War. He endured a tremendous ordeal as the 2nd most senior officer at the Hanoi Hilton. He was brutally tortured. North Vietnam broke every single Article and Convention on the treatment of Prisoners of War, and when they finished breaking that list, they broke every rule and moral edict on the treatment of human beings. That he stood up to such treatmend and did not break -- he kept his oath to his men, his country, his service, and his family -- is a testament to his character and constitution.
But it is not an automatic ticket to residence in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I have no doubt he is a good man, but I think he would be a bad president, and and I don't think he is a very good conservative.
He places absolutely too much stock in the power of the government to regulate political speech. McCain-Feingold is affront to any citizen of the United States that values and treasures both the Constitution and the First Amendment. It was unconstitutional when it was passed, it was unconstitutional when the President signed it, and it is unconstitutional today. Besides severely restricting political speech, it is an incumbent protection racket. It removes the ability of challengers to use grass-roots organizations and mobilization to confront incumbent opponents during the 90 days before a general election. It is heinous. For this alone, I could never vote for Senator McCain.
McCain thinks that the problem with politics is too much money. That may be true. Let's say it is. But what prompts the infusion of cash is government's overwhelming involvement in every g-d detail of daily life. Why in the hell should the United States government be involved in the size of my toilet? Who gave them the right to tell me how much corn mash I can distill? What kind of light bulbs I can use in my house? What channels should be available to me on cable TV? Whether my cookies contain pork fat, fatback, or trans fats? How many miles per gallon my car should get? How my salary should be negotiated between my employer and me? How many hours I work a week? Whether I am "exempt" or "non-exempt"? Whose business is it but my own.
The simple fact is that as you increase government involvement, you get people who want to either craft that involvement to their advantage OR fight against it. That is how cash flows into politics. If you want to fight the money in politics, get Washington out of our lives.
But that is a problem, because John McCain is a BIG GOVERNMENT LIBERAL. He has signed on with the environmentalist whackos who would chop global GDP by 1/3, plunging 2 billion people into abject poverty and medical suffering, to fight a scientific theory that has as many detractors as proponents and for which the data is often fabricated. Yes, I am talking about global warming.
For "energy independence", he wants to impose unrealistic gas efficiency standards on auto fleets that fly in the face of consumer demand. Guess what? Trucks and SUVs are still the best selling vehicles on the road today, despite gas at $3.00/gallon (or higher). John McCain would have auto manufacturers produce cars that WILL NEVER SELL in order to meet arbitrary gas consumption numbers that have only two outcomes: 1) they increase fatalities and 2) they increase gas consumption. So much for energy independence.
What he will not do is address our immediate needs through increased production (ANWAR, Rocky Mountain, and off shore drilling) while incentivizing the energy industry to invest heavily in the next generation of energy production like hydrogen fuel cells. This wouldn't be that hard. Put up a $1 billion prize for the first inventor that creates a true hydrogen fuel cell that is safe, clean, and practical. The only condition: you can't patent it. You get $1 billion in return for the patent. You will have every research university on the planet scrambling for that deal.
In terms of social issues, he is not a reliable voice. He might vote the party line, but he does not lead on issues like embryonic stem cell research, abortion, etc. In fact, according to Rick Santorum, he regularly tries to derail backroom strategy efforts for the conservatives in the Senate to lead on these issues.
I think he is a little disingenious. He says he is a leader on national security issues. Great. Where was he in the 90's when the Clintons were eviscerating the US Military and spending the "peace dividend" on the PLO? Where was he in the 90's when the Clinton Justice Department was creating artificial walls between the FBI and CIA on terrorist surveillance? Where was he on force protection issues for overseas naval berths (like the USS Cole)?
He says that the surge in Iraq was his idea. Not quite. "A" surge was his idea. McCain was in favor of dramatically increasing the footprint in Iraq following the Westmoreland model in Vietnam. He was not the progenitor of the strategy we used -- the Petraeus model, which was modeled on Creighton Abrams' approach in Vietnam. McCain wanted to fight this war the way we fought the first half of the last big war. McCain wanted to land hundreds of thousands of more troops into hostile territory, creating 100,000 fresh targets and imposing "Fortress Iraq". He didn't want to engage on the grassroots level like Petraeus did (and is doing). Thank god W. ignored the Arizona Bloviator.
Economically, he would be a disaster. He is not a supply-sider, he is a Keynesian. He would impose high taxes to pay off debt and balance the budget. He thinks that you can "just stop spending". If that is so, why hasn't he helped lead the fight against earmarks? Where was he for the last seven years outing Senators who were placing secret earmarks in legislation? Why hasn't he challenged his colleagues on the Senate floor, instead of teaming up with the likes of Drunk Driver (and murderer) Ted Kennedy?
You can't just stop spending, you need to starve the beast. You need to constrain government's ability to spend, because you cannot control its proclivity to spend.
He voted against the Bush tax cuts, and continues to oppose their extension. These are the same tax cuts that provided a record $75 billion in tax revenues on a single day in 2007 -- the most ever received by the Federal Government.
His performance in Michigan shows this just fine: he basically told his Michigan audiences that their manufacturing jobs weren't coming back, so get over it. He has no plan for extracting government from the economy -- thereby unleashing growth -- he only has a plan for injecting government into it more. And we just need to get over it.
I am not sure why John McCain is a Republican, other than he could not get elected in Arizona unless he was. After his dismissal in 2000, he basically took his ball and went home, joining his liberal pals in the Senate to thwart a lot of Republican initiatives. Remember the Gang of 14 and the judicial filibusters? Thank John McCain for that if you see him in Maryland.
I won't though. I have nothing to say to him. And no reason to vote for him.