Posted on 10/08/2012 3:32:23 AM PDT by Kaslin
Note: The author would like to thank the Psalmist, Switchfoot, and Samwise for inspiring this column.
Back in May of 1999, I made a decision to leave the Democratic Party. It was an easy decision. I had been a Democrat for 11 years. I voted for Dukakis when I was a committed leftist. But, later, when I became a pro-life conservative, there was no room for me in the party. So I became a Republican and also joined the NRA. I've been a straight shooter ever since. Excuse me if that last line sounded heterosexist. I’m a work in regress.
As a committed conservative - one who many people think should be committed - I place ideology above party loyalty. It is true that I will not vote for any Democrat under any circumstances, not even if they seek my vote for local dog catcher. The image of Florida Democrats interpreting "chads" is burned in my memory forever. Mike Adams clings to a grudge longer than Al Sharpton clings to a discredited rape victim. But that doesn't mean I will always vote Republican. Each candidate has to work to earn my vote. That is especially true if I view him as a member of the establishment, rather than a product of a grass roots movement.
Mitt Romney is not nearly as conservative as I would like him to be. So I did not feel comfortable supporting him going into the Denver presidential debate. I'm sorry to talk about my feelings. I know I'm a member of the NRA but I still have feelings. Just ask Ingrid Newkirk of PETA. I send her Christmas cards every year - although I know she does not appreciate that they are home-made and feature pictures of the deer I kill during the holiday season.
Sorry to digress. Now, let’s get back to my feelings.
Some people will say that the Denver debate changed their vote from Obama to Romney. But I am not among them. My vote was changed from going-to-sit-this-one-out to Romney. But it did not take a 90-minute debate to do it. It only took one line. He didn't have me at "hello." He got me when he scolded a boyish eye-contact-avoiding president for over-spending. Specifically, he got me when he looked right at Obama and characterized the current spending problem as “immoral.”
It was a home run. And it cut right to the heart of the nature of our spending problem. It is more than just a spending problem. It is a moral problem. To fail to grasp the depth of the moral deficit that makes possible our fiscal deficit is to misjudge the American political landscape altogether. It is to misapprehend the nature of the American constitutional experiment altogether.
Our nation is rooted in a deep tradition of respect for property rights. It is a tradition that was well understood until the Greatest Generation gave birth to the Gratest Generation (mis-spelling intentional) - a generation that now controls our nation's purse strings. That generation has turned its back on core principles expressed by our Founders. In the process, it has jeopardized the existence of the republic.
Our Founders knew that our rights had a necessary moral component - a necessary moral dimension. In saying they were given by our Creator, they implied as much. But they implied much more than that. The most obvious implication is that God-given rights may not be taken from us by man.
But that idea is lost on the current political class. And they need to rediscover it.
Our Founders would have been shocked to see a budget devised by promise-breakers who knowingly lie to future generations in order to attain the power necessary to fund their deception. The promise-breakers know the collapse is inevitable. But they expect to be gone before it actually happens. Much has been said about a generation that has killed millions of its own offspring. More must be said about the millions it has robbed in order to ensure perpetual comfort and to avoid financial sacrifice.
In Denver, Romney spoke harshly to the current leader of that generation. His words echoed over the mountain tops and traveled through the valley in the shadow of debt. They reminded some of us that the shadow proves the sunshine. And that means there is some good left in this world and that it is still worth fighting for.
He has won my vote also, and in a special way, after adding on Rep. Paul Ryan.
I was always ABO but the Ryan choice made me actually pro-Romney.
Another thinking American comes to his senses.
I have noticed that the FReepers that hate Romney and are going to "sit this one out" have steadily decreased in their rants, and the ones that are still hold outs are running out of ammo and food and water.
There will always be a few left, like the Japanese soldiers on some lost island.
Romney has had my vote since day one, to begin with because he was not Obama and now i believe because he is Romney.
I see a few Romney signs here in my town but i have not saw any Obama signs which is a change from four years ago.
Although that does not necessarily mean anything because the socialists are mostly in the Denver and Colo springs area.
A couple of things solidified my vote. There was still a slim chance I was going to go third party if Pennsylvania was a runaway Obama state anyway. And then the Dems booed Israel at their convention. Horrifying. I knew then I had to vote Romney. Then, the Sept. 11 massacre and Obama handled it like an idiot. I was proud of Romney’s response. Even my wife - who was always going to go third party (Constitution) - is now voting Romney.
However....
Obama and the demonRats are so reprehensible, I could not see myself standing before the Lord God and trying to explain why I didn't do everything I could to get the most evil people I know out of power.
Obama is the epitome of evil along with his anti-god party.
Actually, those of us sticking to our principles are silent because unlike many, we choose not to crap on Jim’s floor. When he chose to support Romney, we had a choice. Act like DUers or retain some decency and take our opinions on the subject elsewhere and not further contribute to an already raging civil war..
Plenty of reason to not support that which goes against every conservative principle. But your vote is your choice.
I will digest this later, I am still wavering.
Romney is not my ideal Candidate by any stretch of the imagination. But I fear that sitting it out is a vote for Obozo. The thing that solidified my vote was the Ryan pick and his performance awt the debate.
Good post.
That’s about the way I feel too, although Romney certainly mouthed all the right words at the debate. And for those who are quick to cry “traitor” at anyone who does not rush to embrace Romney, let me remind you that there are more elections on this ballot than just the presidency. It is also important that conservatives strengthen our presence in the House and add to our numbers in the Senate.
if Romney kicks BO’s butt this next round as badly as he did in Round 1, I could almost see myself voting for him. But I would do so not in the blind faith that he’s a conservative, but in the full realization that I was participating in the gradual demise of our country.
Hold your nose if you have to.
Perhaps we should think of it as slowing the demise of our country; it must be slowed before it can be stopped and then reversed.
I wasn’t a Romney fan, but I’ve come around.
Adding Ryan to the ticket helped a lot.
If he does nothing else but make good his intention to make us energy independent, even if he doesn’t get us all the way there, he will have changed the country for the good immeasurably, IMHO.
I wasn’t a Romney fan, but I’ve come around.
Adding Ryan to the ticket helped a lot.
If he does nothing else but make good his intention to make us energy independent, even if he doesn’t get us all the way there, he will have changed the country for the good immeasurably, IMHO.
I understand your sense of disgust about Romney, but do either of you care about the future of your children and/or grand children?
Every reason you give for not voting for Romney to get rid of obama, is magnified thousands of times if obama wins and those future generations will pay the price.
Go have breakfast with your wife and do some gardening, and pretend that there is a moral equivalence between Romney/obama and then your conscience won't keep you awake at night, and you will have "remained true to your principles".
Yes, there are so many reasons conservatives are not happy with Romney as the GOP nominee. But I see this as a battle that we have been losing for 50 years. Every RINO compromise, every conciliation and every deal made in a bi-partisan manner has favored the liberal socialists and stomped on the Constitution. All of this aided by a liberal biased press. The cards have been stacked. The Tea Party has begun to change the dynamic but we are not there yet. It is going to take a concerted long term effort to get this country back. The key being the Tea Party to hold people accountable. In my mind Romney is just a start, Not the best but start nonetheless. Our next goal should be to dismantle the liberal media and level the information playing field. It has to be a combined assault on the entire left propaganda machine. We need to get to the point where we demand that our tax dollars are not used to indoctrinate kids at universities and public schools. Our problems and challenges are so large in the long term that at this point Romney is just a beginning. Just the fact that i have a son serving overseas is enough to vote for Romney because of the the bammer’s complete betrayal of our military. In my opinion sitting this one out just doesn’t make sense.
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