Voting Day!

It is very interesting to have such a wide range of friends on Facebook, with very different political philosophies when it comes to voting. There are the people who say, “This is the day we will reclaim America and gain our freedom again.” There are those who say, “I’m going to vote Libertarian and show those lame two parties that they have utterly failed.” And then there are some (but not as many) who say, “I refuse to vote for a system of coercion and legal theft. I will not give into their system by voting for a new master.”  I tend to side with the third group. If you fit into either of the other groups, then that’s fine, I don’t mean to say you are wrong, those ideas just don’t fit with where I am intellectually.

Here’s my take on the elections:

If the Democrats retain Congress, we know what kind of policy we’ll be getting. The only interesting thing about that situation will be to see how the Tea Party responds. But since they can’t elect anyone for another 2 years, and I don’t think they are ready to try anything more radical, even their response probably won’t be very interesting.

If the Republicans get Congress, we’ll probably hear a lot of noise, but not much of anything else. When have the Republicans ever repealed something once they gained power? Oh yeah, there was Social Security! And Medicare. Um…that didn’t turn out quite like they said. They promised to repeal both of those programs. And to the best of my knowledge, they are still in existence. The Republican Party doesn’t have a very good reputation, and I’m afraid it is getting worse with time. So do not count on the Republicans repealing the healthcare bill.

I rarely like to go out on a limb like this and risk my own reputation, but I’m going to now. I can guarantee you that the Republicans will never repeal Obamacare. I mean, really, truly and effectively repeal it. They might make a lot of noise over repealing part of it, or maybe repealing all of it…while slipping the same bill into some other legislation. But I know that they will never undo all of the Obamacare package.

Some speculate that to save the 2012 elections, Obama will start a war with Iran. That’s possible. But there’s a 90% chance that the Republicans would do the same thing once they got into power. And the sad thing is, I think they would do it with more gusto, zeal and “patriotism” which is just nationalism just dressed up in fine clothes. The Republicans would have more fun with another war than the Democrats. That’s just the way they are. And I don’t mean the American citizens who call themselves Republicans, I’m sure more of them are very good and decent people. I mean the leadership of the Republican Party and the politicians who call themselves Republicans. I’m afraid they would love nothing better than to start another war, and of course bring back the Bush rhetoric, “If you are not with us, then you are with the terrorists.” Gag. Ugh. I think I’d rather have another healthcare bill than that. At least the healthcare bill hasn’t killed anyone yet…wars kill people every day, and not just the soldiers but innocent civilians. Like I’ve said before, a few years ago war wasn’t a big issue for me. But it is about human life. It is as fundamental an issue as the pro-life movement. If you are for life then you must be against these unnecessary wars.

There’s more I could say on this, but I won’t. The only election today I really care about is the local Sheriff race. When in the Campaign for Liberty I interviewed the Republican candidate (Aaron Booker) and have talked with him at various Tea Party functions. The last couple weeks have gotten very interesting with this race. The local newspaper, Rockford Register Star, is full of info on it. And as a warning, the RRStar is not “fair” and “unbiased” about the elections…since when does a newspaper endorse candidates as they have done? Here’s the results of a search I did on their website for “Aaron Booker.” That’s really the only thing I’ve been paying attention to when it comes to elections and voting. I’ll end with a quote from H.L. Mencken which has been making the rounds on internet:

“There’s really no point to voting.  If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.”