Say Anything Blog

I love my wife and we are happily married. Now, you must know, despite all rumors to the contrary she isn’t perfect. Oh, in my eyes she is but I am also aware she has flaws that others might see.

I’m guessing that’s the same with me. I’m not perfect, I have flaws, but she loves me in spite of my gross imperfections.

Marriage is like that. Some would say she “Settled” for me. Others might say I “Settled” for her. The reality is neither of us did. We just understood that perfection is the enemy of Good and even excellence. There was an interesting “This I Believe” regarding the idea of settling. It was pretty good. I may not agree in full with the thesis, I do agree with the concept.

That’s true in a job, that’s true in a church, that’s true in friends. If you want perfection you will get neither excellent nor good. You’ll just keep lurching from place to place wishing and hoping and always disappointed.

That’s how I feel about political candidates. I will ultimately (as will all of us) have to settle for what the primary system (as flawed as it is) will provide to us to vote for in the general election.

If I could out of whole cloth create a perfect candidate he or she would:

Understand and believe in confronting evil embodied in terrorists worldwide.

Not think that government and politics are the answer to everything, or even very much.

Not be moved about by every wind that blows like global warming, energy Independence, trust the market more than man’s politics.

Not give a rip what our "allies" around the world think. We are the free world's leaders, LET'S ACT LIKE IT! If Norway objects, OH WELL. We have the right, privilege and responsibility to maintain the Pax Americana as we see it until it's handed off to someone else. Who else is there globally who will take this on? I particularly don't care what people in countries who benefit from our Pax Americana who snipe at the USA. If you don't like it move to Russia. They don't like it either. I'm just a little ticked at people who live under the shelter of peace we bought and paid for with American Blood and Tears crying about the fact that we continue to do our best to preserve the peace we purchased for them.

Understand we live in a world made up of people moving around for economic purposes (Immigrants, legal and otherwise) and get a control on their presence among us by implementing a strong Guest card program sanctioning employers who go against the grain on this, George Bush had this one right and I wish people understood this.

Forget building a fence, it’s stupid, expensive and ineffective. Let’s choke off the jobs and get people registered. Jobs will be filled, we’ll just know who is filling them.

Have a strong military, make military a good option as a career. How can we have 30% unemployment in the inner city black community among males between the ages of 18-32 and have a military begging for recruits. Where’s the disconnect?

Get guns back in the populace. A society that refuses to understand that a well armed populace makes guys like the shooter invading a “Gun Free Zone” like the Omaha mall invincible for a little while. If he hadn’t taken his own life how many could or would he have killed before anyone got to him. Or Virginia Tech. I guess those two nutcases didn’t read the signs that proclaimed these places to be a gun free zone. I want any potential shooter to think that mall employee or that little old lady standing in line or as in Virginia every teacher has a loaded firearm and knows how to use it. I think it might just slow things down. At least in yesterday’s shooting in Colorado Springs at New Life the guards were armed. That’s more than the security at the mall in Omaha or Virginia. My candidate would see to it more people had guns.

The same thing goes for water boarding and other forms of “Interrogation”. Even if we never actually used it I want out enemies to fear being captured and questioned by our military or intelligence agencies. I want them to fear what we might do. It’s the same reason we have nuclear weapons. I want our enemies to think we might just use them (again) on them. And hoping we might not if they behave and work with us. Big Stick and Speaking Softly. Nuclear disarmament’s and military ineptitude which before the surge we demonstrated in Iraq only emboldens international mall and Virginia tech shooters. When we declare the USA a “GUN FREE ZONE” we are toast.

On health care I want a candidate that understands the free enterprise system and recognizes that the mess Health care is in this country is because we do NOT have a free enterprise system. It’s government, lawyerized and insurance controlled. I think we can do better by getting the government out of the health care business. If we must have a safety net, make it for those who need it. Need means we no longer rely on others to make decisions about the level of care we get. Insurance companies and the government does that now. In both cases both are usually wrong. Forcing me to buy overpriced insufficient insurance is no plan at all. We can have both but it must be at the local level. Nationalized health care is a politician impossibility and in the long run only serves the politics of nannystateism.

On personal freedom. I want a candidate who leaves me alone. Smoking bans are dumb. Gun bans are dumb. Music bans are dumb. Religious bans are dumb. Seat belt laws are dumb. CAFE Standards for gas mileage are dumb. Formulations for gasoline in 20 types are dumb. Let me live my life. I’ll make the decisions I want to . Nannyism is a slippery slope. Leave me alone. Don’t tread on me. I’ll figure it out.

On Life. I want a candidate who believes all life is precious. Who will not endorse or support the killing of innocent life. That is abortion and euthanasia. Life that took life must be dealt with, that’s not innocent life, so support of a death penalty is in order. I’m uncompromising in my antithesis for abortion and euthanasia and I want a candidate that feels as I do.

On Taxes. I want a candidate who’s goal it is to eliminate the need for taxes. Here George Bush has failed. We spent too much. Eliminate whole government departments. The IRS, The education department, the USDA (we need a USDA like we need a USDCSA). That would be a department dedicated to the furtherance and preservation of convenience store operators. How silly can you get. I want a candidate who starts with a clean slate and says let’s quit spending money and let’s figure out another way to collect taxes we will need. Flat or fair tax, I don’t care, let’s just abolish the IRS and start over.

On Government. Less is more. I am drawn to candidates that believe that less government is better. Smaller. Simpler. Local. Regional. I’m against “Revenue Sharing”. I’m against matching funds. I’m against the federal government sending money to anyone anywhere.

On education. Get government out of education. Not even a no child left behind. No public educational system at all. Sell all the schools to private enterprise. I want a candidate that supports and endorses vouchers for education, money the government pays direct to providers for educating kids. I want that if your school stinks you have options. Even home schoolers would be supported in this. If we could take our kids out of bad schools and put them supported in good schools at our choice we would have better schools. No mother of any child I have ever seen wants their kid to be a failure in life. If they have a chance to see their kid “Make it” they will. Support the kids in education who continue to prosper up thru the 14th grade. That’s graduation day and cost free IF YOU STUDY. If you don’t you can be flunked out by 10th grade and should be.

On Homosexuals in our society, I want a candidate that sees things in this regard as God sees it. Sin is sin. Homosexuality is an aberration. It is not an aberration that should be supported or endorsed any more than an aberration to commit adultery, an aberration to steal, an aberration to lie, an aberration to murder. Those are aberrations people are born with and we don’t endorse or support it. Why do we support it in our society at large? The person who is born with propensities to steal, kill, commit adultery or lie stays out of jail or difficulty by avoiding the behavior that would lead them into trouble. That’s not true of Homosexuality. And, to be clear, this means no homosexual marriage either. If a person wants to enter into a contract with another we can’t stop them. Let’s just not call it marriage. Marriage is a woman and a man. One of each. I want my candidate to believe that.

On Religion. I want a wise candidate. Therefore I want a candidate who believes and acts upon the foundational spiritual truths in the Bible. There are plenty. I want a candidate who prays. They all will. I want a candidate who fears God because, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. Proverbs 1:7 And Job 28:28 ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

A candidate of my choosing would have a clear understanding that he in himself has no strength or wisdom whatsoever. He would know that all the education and knowledge in the world cannot substitute for wisdom that comes from God. Solomon needed it. Our next President will need it . I need it.

I do not equate moral purity with Godliness. If that were the case no one is Godly. If a person says he is without sin he’s deceived. Any righteousness we have is filthy rags before God and phony. When I see accusation of unrighteousness in either party I recall who the accuser is. When the voice of accusation comes as it did against Jesus I see it as so much Devil inspired blah blah blah.

I am not a perfect Christian, I am not a perfect man, and I recognize that in getting a candidate to vote for I won’t get the man or woman I wish I could have gotten. I then have to take my screen of qualifications and see which candidate most fits thru the screen. Those that fit pretty well I will vote for and might I say so should you. I’m also not a cookie cutter conservative but I’m pretty conservative.

Now, looking at all that, which of the candidates most fit my profile.

I’ll let you answer that for yourself.