With only 17 days left until the election and many of my TMV colleagues jumping off the fence to one side or the other, the time is fast approaching for all of us to plant our flags. Today I would like to share my own observations and experiences regarding the various candidates through this seemingly endless campaign season and why, as the title of this piece indicates, I will cast my vote next month for Bob Barr. This was a difficult decision. In 2000 I made the choice to vote for a third party candidate, finding both of the major party choices unappetizing. It caused me much remorse in years to come, having seen how close the election was and how disastrous the results of George W. Bush’s victory. And yet, a vote is a precious thing and it is never “wasted” if it is cast in good conscience for the candidate who you feel best represents your interests and the needs of the nation. I also do this knowing full well that Bob Barr will not win this election, nor even take a single electoral vote.
This was not a choice I took lightly, and as recently as the last couple of weeks I had considered jumping ship and voting for one of the major party candidates. However, in the end, that’s not something I can do this year. First, I would like to make it clear that the poisonous atmosphere of the campaign this year has been tremendously disappointing. Both of the major party candidates are honorable men who have a desire to serve their nation in a leadership role and a vision for where they wish the country to go. They are both also highly ambitious and egotistical, as one must be to reach for the highest seat of power in the world. While their individual positions on the issues can and should be examined and criticized, the scurrilous attacks we’ve seen have fairly well sickened many people. Senator McCain is not some sort of secret Manchurian Candidate from his Vietnam days, poised to take over the nation and destroy us. Nor is he actively seeking to destroy and enslave the middle class to benefit some group of ultra-rich shadow government figures, or intentionally begin a third world war to enslave the rest of the planet. Senator Obama is not some sort of secret socialist – at least no more than the entire government is partially socialist in nature at this point – nor is he a terrorist sympathizer, a “radical black activist” (whatever that means these days,) a double secret Muslim or a fan of voter fraud. All of you hanging in and around various chat rooms, comment sections, blogs and water coolers who continue with such accusations and attacks should be ashamed of yourselves. And for the occasions when I have succumbed to temptations toward such hyperbole, I apologize and will try to do better.
I’ve grown weary of stories about Bill Ayers, Charles Keating, Tony Rezko, Rick Renzi, Jeremiah Wright or James Dobson. We have bigger fish to fry this year and would be well served to focus on the words, deeds, positions and plans of the candidates themselves rather than their friends, associates or pastors, present or past.
Senator McCain is a fine and honorable man who has devoted all of his adult life to the service of his country. The wealth of experience he brings to the table is a considerable factor, even if you see his age as troubling. While many of you may disagree, I find his domestic policy initiatives superior to Obama’s in several areas, particularly in matters of education, energy and the economy. This is not to say that Obama’s plans are disastrous, but I just find McCain’s a bit more to my liking in the majority of areas. When it comes to foreign policy, however, McCain’s aggressive nature and volatile tendencies as demonstrated in his saber-rattling rhetoric put me off my feed. In a troubled and changing world, this is a major argument against a McCain presidency. When I combine that with the seemingly-cruel joke he played on us with his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, I can not in good conscience vote for him.
There is likewise much to be admired about Senator Obama. His cool, steady demeanor and masterful oratory skills would serve him well, both in dealings with a recalcitrant Congress and nervous or even antagonistic foreign leaders. His cautious approach to diplomacy and stated distaste for military adventurism are appealing to isolationist leaning individuals like myself who would prefer to see the United States leadership role in the world take place at the bargaining table before the battlefield. While I initially found his choice of Joe Biden as a running mate to be politically questionable, the more I learn about the Delaware Senator the more I like him and trust him to be ready to take the reigns in the tragic and hopefully unlikely event that he should be called on to take the first chair. But Obama’s thin résumé and lack of experience still troubles me. And his broad proposals for spending and the expansion of Federal government, with little realism in how he expects to pay for it all, raise doubts about how well he will steer the ship of state in such a tumultuous economic landscape. I very much like what it says about our nation if we are ready to elect him to the White House, but I don’t feel he is quite ready for that role. I’m even less comfortable with a lack of experience at the top of the ticket than in the second slot, and as such, I don’t feel I can cast my vote for him either.
Bob Barr is not without question marks of his own. His selection of Wayne Allen Root, who makes both Obama and Palin look simply sage and solid in breadth of experience, should give anyone pause. But I have to remind myself that the Libertarian Party (of which I am not a member, though I freely admit to “small l” libertarian leanings) tends to nominate true outsiders who are not part of the machinery they see as having ruined the government. Most true Libertarians would rather see a president selected at random from a national phone book than anyone from inside the beltway. But the first big area where the Barr platform shines is his commitment to fiscal conservatism and willingness to take bold, even drastic steps to reduce the size of government, choke off spending and reduce the national debt. I find the idea that Barack Obama holds any of these ideals close to heart to be, frankly, preposterous. John McCain is to be applauded for his career long opposition to pork-barrel spending and fiscal thriftiness. But at the same time, McCain has had decades in Congress to effect real change in these areas and has wound up helping to preside over a debt which started in the billions and now threatens to quickly crest eleven trillion dollars. He speaks fine words about fiscal conservatism, but in the end he has failed to lead Congress in the correct direction.
The second area where Barr brings an important message comes in his daring to speak the dreaded words of reducing our military spending and presence. Barr would seek to reduce our military footprint across the globe through base closures and consolidations, pulling back to a smaller number of foreign outposts and focusing on forces at home which would leave us ready to strike with force when the need arises, but not having such a massive and expensive presence around the world. He also flatly rejects the Bush doctrine of military adventurism. McCain is exactly the opposite in this regard. Obama comes closer to the correct attitude for my tastes, but seems to feel a need to “flex his muscles” to shake off the wimpy image his party is often saddled with. They could both learn a lot from Bob Barr in this area.
No matter which of the two major party candidates win next month, I don’t think the country is going to suddenly collapse, and I will congratulate the winner and salute them as My President. I hope that all of you, no matter who you may be supporting, can find it in your hearts to do the same. This is the way our country has always worked, though the theory has fallen into disrepair since the early nineties. The majority, whoever that turns out to be, gets to select the President and the winner of that race gets to set the agenda. Let’s give the eventual winner a chance to do the job and reserve our criticism of them until they actually do something (or fail to do) which we find worthy of genuine, considered criticism. Good luck to us all, and let’s hope for a clean, clear decision by the morning of November 5th. Frankly, this feels like it’s been going on since I was in third grade and I’m simply exhausted with it all.
Allow me to leave you with this tidbit from Tennyson:
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.