The Vote Next Tuesday

I have written a lot of harsh things about the GOP (here, here, and here, for example). I remain troubled by the party's weakness when confronting the ever expanding size and reach of federal, state, and municipal government. Republicans too easily let themselves get Mau-Maued by the progressive insult and spin machine, and try to appease it by turning against some of the more gutsy members of the GOP, e.g., Senator Cruz, Governor Palin. All that said, almost any Republican politician is better than almost any Democrat politician when it comes to genuine concern for the country and the future we are creating for our kids and grandkids.

As noted before, I am a libertarian with an asterisk. My default setting on nearly every issue is let the people and the free market handle it. I want our number of laws and regulations radically slashed; whole departments of government eliminated; huge tax cuts; an end to the phony "war on drugs," and so on. I don't get too worked up over some social issues that get Republicans tied up in knots. I, however, want government to do what it is supposed to do: keep the country safe from the multiple threats that exist in what is an increasingly insane planet. I want our military and international alliance structure so powerful that no whacky totalitarian or crazed jihadi would think of attacking us or our friends.

I vote Republican because, whatever the flaws of that party, it is overall a far better choice than its principal alternative. The Democratic party has become destructively insane, and gets crazier by the year. It is a threat to liberty. It believes only in government and in a weird view of America as a place that is endlessly in need of more government.

At a bare minimum, we need to get control of Congress and hold the Republicans we elect accountable for stopping Obama in the remaining two years of his reign of error and terror. Obamacare must be killed off; the IRS seriously overhauled and reduced; the Department of Justice needs a radical redo; illegal immigration must be dealt with as the threat to our future which it is; the misadministration's anti-energy policies must be eradicated, etc. Can a Republican Congress do all that? Probably not, but we will never even get started on saving our country if we don't have a Republican Congress.

Elections have consequences. Yes, I would like to see libertarians elected. That's not going to happen. If we squander our vote on libertarians and other well-meaning folks, we end up with Obama and Reid. For all their flaws, I would much prefer Romney and McConnell.