Mike Rosen: Party trumps person (Must read)

The Rocky Mountain News ^ | October 10, 2008 | Mike Rosen

[2ndDivisionVet]

A superficial cliche goes something like this: "I'm an independent thinker; I vote the person, not the party." This pronouncement is supposed to demonstrate open-mindedness and political sophistication on the part of the pronouncer. Hey, it's your vote; cast it any way you like - or not at all. But idealism and naivete about the way our electoral process, government and politics work shouldn't be mistaken for wisdom.

For better or worse, we have a two-party system. Either a Republican, John McCain, or a Democrat, Barack Obama, is going to be our next president. No one else has a chance. Not Ralph Nader, not the Libertarian candidate, the Communist or the Green. Minor-party candidates are sometimes spoilers - like Nader costing Al Gore the presidency in 2000 - but they don't win presidential elections. Ross Perot got 20 million popular votes in 1992, and exactly zero Electoral College votes.

In Europe's multiparty, parliamentary democracies, governing coalitions are formed after an election. In our constitutional republic, the coalitions are already in place.

The Republican coalition is an alliance of conservatives, middle- and upper-income taxpayers (but not leftist Hollywood millionaires and George Soros), individualists who prefer limited government, those who are pro-market and pro-business, believers in American exceptionalism and a strong national defense, social issues conservatives and supporters of traditional American values.

The Democratic coalition includes guilt-ridden liberals, collectivists, labor unions (especially the teachers' unions), government workers, academics, plaintiffs-lawyers, lower- and middle-income net tax-receivers, identity-politics minorities, feminists, gays, enviros, nannyists and activists for assorted anti-gun, anti-capitalist, anti-business, anti-military, and world-government causes.

I say party trumps person because regardless of the individual occupying the White House, his party's coalition will be served.

[2ndDivisionVet]

EXACTLY!!

[pray4liberty]

Perot has endorsed McCain. It should help more than hurt, especially with the older Democrats who supported Perot.

[Reagan Man]

Stating the obvious. The lines have already been drawn and most folks have already made up their minds. Short of some last minute surprise, the undecideds will decide this election. As they always do.

Btw, Mike Rosen is a libertarian.

[nickcarraway]

his party's coalition will be served.

Explain 8 years of Bush then?

[Irish Eyes]

We could of had “Mr Global Warming”

[nickcarraway]

I was just commenting on his, “his party’s coalition will be served.” statement.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Btw, Mike Rosen is a libertarian.

Not a dyed in the wool libertarian. Just ask him.

[WackySam]

Explain 8 years of Bush then?

This kind of thinking is Verboten!

[businessprofessor]

Btw, Mike Rosen is a libertarian.

He is not a libertarian. He is a registered Republican. He has some libertarian leanings but he does not call himself a libertarian. He votes Republican according to his own statements on the radio.

[momteacherandvp]

I listen to Mike Rosen regularly. He is a Republican.

[Reagan Man]

Met Mike Rosen a few times. Since I’m no golfer any opportunity to spend some quality time with him never materialized. Both of us being from Brooklyn would have been made for good conversation. Been listening to Rosen for years, however. He is a limited government, pro-embryonic stem cell, pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, free market libertarian -— with a pragmatic streak. Rosen is a lot closer to his libertarian buddy Jon Caldera of the Independence Institute, then he is to a conservative like Senator Tom Coburn or myself, for that matter.

[Reagan Man]

I know Mike Rosen is a registered Republican. Never said he was big a *L* Libertarian. Rosen supports limited government, embryonic stem cell research, abortion on demand, gay rights and free markets. Sounds like a libertarian Republican to me.

[Slings and Arrows]

Not specifically about SC, but relevant to our Senate race.

[latina4dubya]

i think he needs to put some upper income tax payers in the Dem column too... lots of millionaires—not just Hollywood millionaires—are Democrats... and liberal...

[HighlyOpinionated]

It's on my blog, too. http://auntiecoosa.blogspot.com

Spread the word. Pass it around. This is too important an election for complacency.

[Tolik]

Mike Rosen:

... In Europe's multiparty, parliamentary democracies, governing coalitions are formed after an election. In our constitutional republic, the coalitions are already in place.

The Republican coalition is an alliance of conservatives, middle- and upper-income taxpayers (but not leftist Hollywood millionaires and George Soros), individualists who prefer limited government, those who are pro-market and pro-business, believers in American exceptionalism and a strong national defense, social issues conservatives and supporters of traditional American values.

The Democratic coalition includes guilt-ridden liberals, collectivists, labor unions (especially the teachers' unions), government workers, academics, plaintiffs-lawyers, lower- and middle-income net tax-receivers, identity-politics minorities, feminists, gays, enviros, nannyists and activists for assorted anti-gun, anti-capitalist, anti-business, anti-military, and world-government causes.

... That's the way the process works. Does this mean that in our two-party system it comes down to choosing between the lesser of evils? Exactly! If we had 300 million custom-tailored minor parties, everyone could find his perfect match. But that's not practical. You can be a purist and cast your vote symbolically with a fringe party, or be a player and settle for the least imperfect of the Republican or Democrat alternatives.

A vote for McCain is a vote for the party of constitutionalist judges, Adam Smith, the NRA, Gen. David Petraeus and Ronald Reagan. A vote for Obama is a vote for judicial activism, Karl Marx, the ACLU, the NEA, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, Al Gore, Cindy Sheehan, Keith Olbermann and Rosie O'Donnell.

Your vote; your choice.

Nailed It!

This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.) I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention. You can see the list of articles I pinged to lately  on  my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about). Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.  

[Ron H.]

Perot has endorsed McCain. It should help more than hurt, especially with the older Democrats who supported Perot.

Endorsements rarely help, especially coming from someone like Ross Perot.

[Ron H.]

Explain 8 years of Bush then?

A mistake!

[pray4liberty]

Endorsements rarely help, especially coming from someone like Ross Perot.

Then why do the endorsements for Obama matter then? He needs the swing voters, and Perot is the one who had them.

[Ron H.]

Then why do the endorsements for Obama matter then?

They really don't matter as much as you think. All but the undecided independents have pretty much had their minds made up for months now. The undecided independent percentage is down to around 15% or so and is continuing to drop. I'd suspect that the majority of those are or will be breaking more for Obama than they are for JuanMac. The more that he flounders the worse it will get for him if some of his 'soft' supporters start to peel off because of his constantly changing message on the economy.

I usually don't agree with the neo-con Bill Kristol all that much but this week he said JuanMac should fire his entire campaign and in this instance I happen to agree with Bill. His campaign people would make a pretty good vaudeville act, I think.