Live to Fight Another Day…

I have many fellow conservative friends.  Some of us have never met individually, but we talk on occasion.  I’ve really met some very good, young conservative minds in the last few months.  I’m grateful for that because I love to see other people’s perceptions on what it is exactly that we fight for in the ways that we can fight in our busy lives.  The common denominator in all of this is that we love our country and feel conservative philosophy is the chosen path of what the founders had intended.  It really isn’t about anything else other then that and those principles hold true universally to any challenge we face or will face in the coming generations. 

As anyone knows I am no fan of John McCain.  I don’t even much care for him as a person.  I respect his military service, but that will not be and has never been a determining factor in how good or bad of a President that will make him.  I don’t know why that is even a determining factor for voters to be quite honest.  I still view him as a country club republican and will never be able to truly sell himself as a true conservative.  The argument now is he’s “conservative enough” and that he has to prove his conservative credentials to the base.  I’m sorry, but if you’re a conservative you don’t have to prove anything especially after having a quarter of a century in congress.

Trust me country club republicans annoy me almost as much as liberals.  Liberalism can be both ignorance for the well intentioned and also an enemy of the founders vision for this country.  It has shown itself as such through many years now.  However those who embrace many of it’s ideals in the name of republicanism or conservatism can be just as damaging if they get their way.  Reaching across the aisle to work with democrats seems like a noble idea, but only when you take our values to the table and fight for them as a pasionate American knowing that it is the right course for this country.  That doesn’t entail standing beside them on issues that we as conservatives know are wrong for the country and then calling it “getting things done”.  I have to be honest I am sick and tired of that cliche.

However we as conservatives whom claim to stand on principle really need to think twice about whom we wish to vote for in the fall.  I feel we need to vote for John McCain even as much as we disagree with him.  I feel we have the obligation to hundreds of thousands of our brave men and women to give them the best commander in chief available and that’s John McCain when it comes down to a race between he and Obama or Clinton.  Isn’t one of our principles to stand behind the troops?  Make any case against McCain all you want in this instance and some of it may be valid, but it doesn’t compare to the irreparable damage that Obama or Clinton can do to our military.  Keeping America safe is a major priority.  I know in my heart when I think about it that John McCain is better for that job than any leftist that caters to a base that hates this country.  I’m talking about the loony left, of course. 

We also have to face the fact that while conservatism ultimately lost in this election season that with McCain we have a much better chance of being heard.  Obama or Clinton have no intention, desire, or need to listen to what we have to say.  With McCain we do have a shot at being heard and not having to fight like hell while watching this country go down the toilet bowl of liberalism in all cases.  As Newt Gingrich whom is possibly our greatest conservative leader right now says we should rather wish to fight with McCain some of the time rather than all of the time with an Obama or Clinton. 

There is also another very important issue which is the issue of the supreme court.  The next President will have two to three and possibly even four replacements to make.  Now I would not be surprised if McCain somehow found three more David Souters to put on the bench.  But we don’t know that for sure and we will at least have somewhat of a say in where the direction of the court goes if we have someone that has to listen to conservatives at least to some degree in office.  With an Obama or Clinton with their views of the constitution we are sure to get three more Ginsburgs on the court or possibly even worse.  We will have no say as they do not adhere to us for our votes.  It’s too important to risk in my opinion and we need to focus on that as we look forward to November. 

Senator McCain may indirectly actually unite the party, but not in the way he says or thinks.  He may end up being the republican nominee or President that ultimately furthers on what George W. Bush has started and that is dissatisfaction within the party to an even greater degree.  The more discontent conservatives get the louder we are and the more we move.  The boots are on the ground and the grassroots are swelling as we speak.  There are many younger conservatives such as myself that wish to advance the movement and will do so because we love our country too much to sit still.  We lost this year, but to quote Don Shula “Success isn’t forever and failure isn’t fatal”.  Thus we live to fight another day.