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Voting for McCain and Understanding the Proper Place for Compromise

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 4/21/2008 9:49:15 AM

As the political landscape in the USA becomes more fractious and balkanized, something that has been important since the days of the Founders has been thrown away by all: Compromise.  We forget that the structure of the government itself is a result of the "Great Compromise", a/k/a the Connecticut Compromise, which set up the present bicameral Congress, where the Senate protects the rights of the states and the House protects the rights of the people.  Nowadays, we instead treat every issue of our political platforms as essential and inviolable -- No negotiation.  If you are not 100% conservative, you’re a left-wing nut job.  If you are not 100% left wing, you are a reactionary right-winger.  This lack of compromise is destroying the United States of America.  One prime example of this destructiveness is the antipathy of staunch conservatives towards Mr. McCain’s presidential bid.

If one looks at Mr. McCain’s record as a whole, he is more conservative than liberal.  His Senate voting record is quite strongly pro-life.  He has supported tax cuts, and promises to extend them when elected, while both of his potential opponents want to hike our taxes.  Mr. McCain brokered the "Gang of 14" compromise which passed several key conservative judicial nominees onto the Court of Appeals without eliminating the filibuster, which considering the present makeup of the Senate, is a good thing.  However, I hate that Mr. McCain created that monstrosity of "campaign finance reform" that bears his name.  I believe that the bill is unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court came up with goofy voodoo law in order to allow that statute to remain in force.  I also hate that he voted for "embryonic" stem cell research, using unborn people as sacrifical tissue factories and flouting their personhood.  Mr. McCain, however, has committed to putting the kind of judges we need onto the Supreme Court.  Do we have a reason to assume that Mr. McCain is lying about his intent?  If not, we should give the man credit for his position.

As Rick Santorum, one of my personal heroes, opined in The Philadelphia Enquirer, we Conservatives are well-served to vote for Mr. McCain and to give him four to eight years in the White House.  The likelihood of resurrecting the Ronald Reagan of 1980 from his casket is zero.  Nobody of Mr. Reagan’s credentials ran for office this year.  We therefore have to decide if we want to "punish" Mr. McCain for his lack of "conservative purity" by voting in the winner of the Democrat bloodbath, be it Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton or some brokered third candidate.  Make no mistake:  If you sit at home and do not vote, we will end up with a President who holds far more in common with Pol Pot and Hitler than Washington, Lincoln or Reagan.

It’s time to compromise.  What is surprising is that we have compromised before.  Both Presidents Bush are not pure conservatives.  Our current president enacted the first major entitlement since Medicare, with this prescription drug boondoggle that will bankrupt this nation.  We have to get past the purism that plagues the Democrat party, so that we do not suffer its self-destructive paralysis.  The current presumptive nominee, Mr. Obama, is even more leftist than John Kerry, who in 2004 was the most liberal member of the Senate.  The extremists rule the roost in the party of the jack-ass, because they demand 100% adherence to their doctrines on pain of vicious reprisals.  In that trat, they precisely emulate their intellectual and ideological forefathers, the Nazis.  We are constantly mislabeled as Nazis by these thugs; we should not endeavor to fit into their ridiculous mold.

John McCain is an imperfect candidate.  He holds some beliefs that are distasteful to conservatives, but unlike other candidates, he has many, many positions of which we heartily approve.  Mr. Santorum refers to Mr. McCain as "close enough to 80 percent for government to work."  I would have been a tad more generous to Mr. McCain.  Either way, he has my vote, and John McCain should have yours as well.  If you find yourself repulsed by the idea, imagine the alternative.  Then, when you have changed your undergarments, run to the polls and prevent a true disaster from befalling us.