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The Presidential Election is Not About Us

Brian, Shaun, D.J. McGuire, et al. do a great job of demonstrating how our society has gone to hell in a hand-basket over centuries because it paid too much attention to dudes like Bentham and Marx as opposed to Burke and Chesterton.

However, my focus is on the present. We can wax philosophic later, as time permits.

I have been receiving a lot of grief from conservatives over my post Saturday [1] saying the only two presidential options are Gary Johnson or Evan McMullin.

The argument generally goes something like this:

Honestly, it’s a pretty compelling argument.

Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone with half a brain can honestly believe that either Donald Trump, who has a proclivity for the lewd, populist and bombastic, or Hillary Clinton, who has demonstrated notoriously “bad judgment” (Benghazi, emails, Bill…) are even remotely in the best interest of the United States.

Honestly, I think all of us, regardless of our party or persuasion, are just hoping that our system of checks and balances survives either administration; and that the administration itself is stocked with good-souled lieutenants and bureaucrats who truly wish to “support and defend the Constitution.”

But back to my previous post, Steven Brodie Tucker wrote [2] that my idea of voting for former Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian alternative, is a dangerous proposition because it could permit Libertarians access to federal campaign money in 2020 (think about that discontinuity for a moment).

So, Tucker recommends voting for no one.

He argues that Johnson doesn’t have a chance at winning, so it’s better to keep the Libertarians still as a minor party come 2020.

In either case, most folks have made their case to me that if you don’t vote for anyone or do vote for Johnson it is a de facto vote in favor of the woman who would raise taxes and the national debt, allow ISIS to continue its march, perpetuate a centralized economy, and, in general, take us closer to hell (TM – Trump).

This brings us back to the lesser of two weevils.

Let’s recap, for clarity, our voting options:

Vote Clinton. Get bad government.
Vote Johnson. Get Clinton.
Don’t vote. Get Clinton.
Vote Trump. Get Pence.

This really does beg the question: Do you view our centuries-old battle between control and freedom in election cycles?

Honestly, I don’t.

Conservatism has always been about truth. It’s been about faith that God knows what he’s doing. It’s been about caring for our fellow man as individuals, and not with the dictates of government. It’s been about demonstrating our faithfulness by living out our faith – not that it will save us, but because it is the right way to live.

What we are experiencing of late is that the conservative movement has been infested with liberal and populist thought. It’s been about demanding others do the hard work for us instead of ourselves.

We are driving God out of the discussion. We are not treating others as we would ourselves. We are putting our faith in people or a person to “Make America Great Again” or “Stop the scourge of abortion by appointing a new court.”

Poppycock.

It’s up to us to make America great. We make America great because of our faith and belief in the republic. We make America great by having high expectations of those who serve. We make America great by supporting groups that offer options, love, support and education to those who are being challenged with the truly unthinkable, such as abortion, suicide, violence towards police, domestic and sexual abuse, etc. And we make America great because it is a shining city on a hill that welcomes faithful with open arms – and expects them to remain faithful and be good citizens.

So, who do you vote for?

Honestly? Whoever you want because God will give us who we deserve.

“the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17).

And what of the outcome? It will continue to be up to the faithful to pray and remain faithful – with a firm commitment to its conservative roots.

Hmm…I guess I got philosophic after all.