Conservative Common Man

I have been trying to come to terms with the fact that there is no conservative candidate remaining in the race for the Republican nomination for president. The quest for acceptance of the current political situation is continually being undermined by Senator John McCain.

McCain said some good things in his economy speech April 15 at Carnegie Mellon University, but as I believe Mike Church pointed out on his Sirius radio show this week, the following statement would easily adhere to Marx’ “Communist Manifesto”:

Many retired Americans face the terrible reality of deciding whether to buy food, pay rent or buy their prescriptions. And their government should help them. But when we added the prescription drug benefit to Medicare, a new and costly entitlement, we included many people who are more than capable of purchasing their own medicine without assistance from taxpayers who struggle to purchase their own. People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don’t need their prescriptions underwritten by taxpayers. Those who can afford to buy their own prescription drugs should be expected to do so. This reform alone will save billions of dollars that could be returned to taxpayers or put to better use.

The statement has a very “to each according to his need, from each according to his ability” tone to it. This statement was made after he had railed against high CEO salaries and indicated that regular Americans were confused in the mortgage process (apparently needing government guidance as we are too stupid to support ourselves and our families.)

Then he chose to top off his week of Democrat politician emulation by pulling a shady tax return release move. “The Straight Talk Express” stops here (if it ever actually rolled, that is.) The 17th wealthiest member of Congress released only his last two years of tax returns and refused to release those of his wealthy wife. This ploy is disgusting on more than one level. I can’t help but wonder what this man is thinking.

• The “privacy” of his wife’s returns inevitably lead one to the conclusion that he is hiding something or at the very least, he wants to maintain a false public image of his financial situation. Either reason is dishonest and unethical.
• Perhaps he believes that given the state of the admitted Democrats contest, his best shot at wooing Democrat voters is to out-sleaze the two admitted Dems. This tactic might work since Democrat voters have shown a willingness to vote for candidates with shady pasts that seem to be actively engaged in public deceit.

I was trying not to question the man’s integrity. I knew many of his positions were detestable or half-hearted (like his pro-life stance,) but I tried to believe that he had integrity even though he was so often wrong. This tax return ploy dashes all hope that McCain is at least more honest than his remaining (big party) opponents. What is he trying to hide? Does he believe that his election is inevitable and he can get away with such an openly dishonest move?

It seems that McCain might get some perverse pleasure out of putting his party and his supporters into tough situations. He has a record of fighting his party and conservatism. How are his supporters to be expected to deal with this latest and obvious trap? He is the only Republican candidate, therefore Republican supporters and commentators have three choices:

1. Ignore the deceit and hope no one brings it up, because if it is brought up they will have to resort to choice number 2 or number 3.
2. Spin the “privacy” angle and try to cope with the intellectual dishonesty inherent in pretending that McCain’s wife is separate financially from McCain, himself. Of course there is also the ethical problem of the ridiculous and obvious double standard this argument would present.
3. Honestly express concern over this ploy and request that Senator McCain ascend to a level of honesty that would fit his “Straight Talk” mantra. Speak out against this deception by omission and fight for transparency.

Honesty in politics would be a refreshing change. Why is it that more people (even those who complain that politicians are liars and crooks) would not support a politician that didn’t come across as a salesman?

John McCain is wrong on illegal aliens, although now he says he will secure the border before granting amnesty to the 12 to 20 million illegals here. He is for further loss of manufacturing jobs in name of anthropogenic global warming reversal. John McCain is wrong on embryonic stem cell research and chose to defend his law restricting free speech against a Wisconsin pro-life organization. His McCain-Feingold free speech restricting campaign finance reform seems tailor made to give him the Republican nomination (which worked for him.) He is wrong on so many issues, a principled conservative must struggle to decide how he or she could support him. Continued assaults on the intelligence of the electorate only make the choice that much more difficult.

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