Posted on 01/21/2008 10:06:11 AM PST by K-oneTexas
Who's President Isn't The Main Thing By John Andrews
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Who do you like for President? Many Americans this year seem inclined to answer that question with another: Whats today? The polls are volatile. Weve already seen surprises, and well see more.
This was going to be a column endorsing Romney. The straight-arrow entrepreneur is my guy. If Mitt quits, Im for gruff Fred Thompson. I was also going to say that McCain and Huckabee, big-government egotists, are my least favorite though preferable to any Democrat.
Republican presidential hopeful former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney carries a box of donuts on the campaign charter before leaving Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. Romney was heading to Florida. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Related Media: VIDEO: Romney on Leno, Mentions Clash With AP Reporter
As it turns out, Im not here to tell you any of that. (Notice the deft use of paralipsis, the rhetorical trick of mentioning something by claiming not to. Wont make an issue of my opponents youth and inexperience, as Reagan quipped in 1984. Huck similarly backhanded Romney with that Iowa attack ad he decided not to air. Isnt politics fun?)
It is in fact the fun of politics, the seductive, addictive, distracting, and potentially debilitating nature of this great spectator sport, this endlessly entertaining circus of something for nothing, that I want to warn all of us about, me included, before election year 2008 gets any crazier which you know it will.
Why seductive? Why debilitating? Because politics, the allocation and application of government power, is not the main thing for individuals and communities in a free society. The main thing is personal effort, self-responsibility, and the uplifting of the human spirit. Political decisions are no more than a means to that end, never an end in themselves.
It is too easy to think otherwise, however, lazy and careless creatures that we are. Youre from the government, and you have to help me, we demand overlooking what an old laugh line weve just uttered. Forgotten are the ten most empowering words in the language: If it is to be, it is up to me. So subtly does political seduction occur.
They may throw me out of the Republican Party for saying this, but here goes: In many ways, it doesnt matter who is elected President next fall. Americas national security, economic vitality, and adherence to justice are of tremendous importance to our own people and the world, no question. The two parties differ honorably about these.
But my side isnt all wisdom and saints, nor is the other all folly and scoundrels. Whoever wins will govern largely between the 40-yard lines. While Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama in the White House isnt my preference, even less than Sen. McCain, the country will be okay. Talk of ruin is moonshine. Great nations can withstand a lot of ruin, observed Adam Smith.
The seduction of politics, which we must have the backbone to resist, happens when citizens on the left or the right, both are susceptible regard agencies and laws, taxes and budgets, as a magic box from which solutions to imperfection and scarcity can be expected. No such solutions exist, and we court moral bankruptcy by banking on them.
Freedom wont work unless enough of us practice four essentials of citizenship, writes Thomas Krannawitter of the Claremont Institute. We need self-assertion to defend our liberties, self-restraint to behave responsibly, self-reliance to avert dependency, and civic knowledge to participate constructively. Simple, arent they? Yet far from easy.
And now consider how poorly these qualities are fostered today by many of our nations families, schools, corporations, media, entertainers, government programs, and even churches. Think how often candidates and campaigns promote the exact opposite: passivity, indulgence, blaming, and sloganeering. That road does lead to ruin.
Alexander Hamilton said America is an experiment in governing ourselves by reflection and choice rather than accident and force. More important than whos elected this year is how we go about it. Are we a stampeding herd or a free people, choosing reflectively? The world is watching.
John Andrews is a Claremont Institute fellow and former President of the Colorado Senate
“But my side isnt all wisdom and saints, nor is the other all folly and scoundrels. Whoever wins will govern largely between the 40-yard lines. While Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama in the White House isnt my preference, even less than Sen. McCain, the country will be okay. Talk of ruin is moonshine. Great nations can withstand a lot of ruin, observed Adam Smith. “
Obviously, this author doesn’t recall the Carter years.
“Obviously, this author doesnt recall the Carter years.”
I wonder if this author was up against the clock and had to get some words on paper?
We MUST also pay attention to LOCAL and STATE legislators. My condolences to neighboring TEXANS who face EMINENT DOMAIN for FOREIGN Interests. See (for Texas) Corridorwatch.org and Check out OK-SAFE.org (Sovereignty And Free Enterprise.) It is alerting Oklahomans of corridor NAFTA plans thru OK.
No, the Constitution is the main thing, but as long as our elected officials treat the Constitution like toilet paper, who's in charge is a big deal .
Good article and expresses a true conservative sentiment that conservatives often overlook.
Actually the Carter years (a horrible Presidency steeped in 'ruin' but which nevertheless was followed by an unprecedented period of prosperity) prove his point.
“Actually the Carter years (a horrible Presidency steeped in ‘ruin’ but which nevertheless was followed by an unprecedented period of prosperity) prove his point.”
Yes, because of Reagan. It’s been said that the civil war in this country was the result of three consecutively weak presidents leading to Lincoln.
I’m in my 50s. I know the country can endure in the long run anyone, but I don’t want the next twenty years one of liberal supreme court judges, high taxes, weak defense, weak economy, poor schools etc.
Liberals may be good on the local level, but as Presidents they are a castatrophe....
He's former speaker of the Colorado Senate and candidate for Governor. One of the most solid, articulate and brilliant guys who has actually gotten elected to serious office. A great spokesman for limited government.
I differ with John on how much ruining America can take and I think he's far too generous to our opponents. But noone slags John for laziness or stupidity without my response.
Interesting.......wondering how my comment translated into calling him lazy or stupid in your mind?
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