McCain's Moderation? No Thanks!

Not My Kind of Maverick by Scott Olin Schmidt

With only 13 weeks to the Presidential election, I have basically tuned out. I have a hard time placing all my chips on Barack Obama's judgement, which lacking experience, is all he has to offer. And since John McCain gleefully bucks the bedrock beliefs of the Republican Party, I am turned off by his candidacy.

I like to think of myself as a moderate Republican, one who believes that the government should stay out of our pocketbooks and out of our personal lives. The values that attract me to the Republican Party are simple. I believe in limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty. There is a role for government in providing things like infrastructure and a common military defense which would not otherwise be provided by the collective actions as individuals. But as far as the government's job, that's it.

Unfortunately, the Republican nominee for president has made his reputation as a maverick by violating those very principles. When you look at the volumes of experience John McCain has had in the United States Senate, his "moderation" from Republican values, always seems to involve extending the long arm of big government. [...]

At the Republican Convention, McCain will try to cast himself as a conservative since he has already lost the media love affair to his opponent, Barack Obama. But McCain's record - and, unlike Obama he has a long one - shows where and how he breaks from Republican values, expanding government and taking away personal liberty based on the assumption that people cannot be trusted to take responsibility for their own actions. That's a maverick trend I'd like to buck!

It cannot be said enough... Obama is no gem, but that doesn't make McCain the right choice. In politics, unlike multiplication, you can't get a positive from two negatives.