Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Alternate Title 1: Re-elect Barack Obama 2012
Alternate Title 2: 2012 is Ron Paul's Year!
Yeah, I'm funnin' with you on that second alternate.
After reading through Ricochet contributor summaries of last night's debate and listening to some audio clips this morning, I began to seriously question my own commitment to and advocacy of voting for Romney, should he be the GOP nominee, as now appears inevitable.
Obviously, I'm not going to vote for Obama. But, but....? What this pivotal moment calls for is so different from who Romney is and what he represents... Is this the moment when we blow it all up, in the interest of creative destruction? I argued against the debt ceiling deadline being that moment. That may have been a mistake.
I'm tired of having the least informed and least engaged voters pick our leaders. I'm tired of the establishment this and the establishment that. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. I'm doubly tired of having to defend inarticulate Texans and administrative progressives in the cause of conservatism. Conservatism works. The crony-socialism this country is practicing isn't just unsustainable, it's globally cataclysmic. The end is near.
There's the rub for me. I don't know when it's going to happen. I just know it has to happen, the same way I knew interest-only mortgages were a deadly poison to the housing market. We all knew it, didn't we? We know this too -- something's gotta give.
My mood was much more hopeful a few weeks ago. For months now, I've been telling friends and relations "There's a lot of pent up energy out there. If we just get the right leadership, this country is gonna roar back to life."
And then one of my all time favorite conservatives, VDH, wrote an optimistic article, The Coming Post Obama Renaissance. VDH? Optimistic, you say? Yeah, read it.
Maybe my mistake was listening to Thomas E Woods, author of Rollback, speaking to CPAC. But he's not the only one predicting collapse. My genius astrophysicist nephew sees it coming. Others both in the public arena and private friends acknowledge that every day we fail to address the evil of Leviathan government makes climbing out of this pit of despair all the harder. Romney may be a reprieve, but he certainly isn't a small government solution kind of guy, not with his punch-in-the-gut defense of entitlements. I'm sickened every time I hear him.
I'm considering sitting this one out. When I see my kids are headed for a fall, I remind myself that sometimes the best way to develop a skill is to suffer the natural consequences of failure. Maybe Barack Obama is the best friend conservatism has ever had. Maybe the US has to suffer the full effect of crony-socialism to learn the blessings of liberty and free enterprise. Maybe we have to hit bottom before we can start to work our way up. Is this that moment? Somebody talk me off the ledge.
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Sit out the election? NEVER !!
Vote for the next Republican in line, Romney? Same response. 50 years of this is enough.
I will vote. I want the Republican party to know where my vote went. The Taxpayers Party or the Constitutional Party or whatever they call themselves this cycle is one possibility. The Libertarian Party is a less desirable alternative, and there might be more.
The stupid party will never wise up if we continue to convince them that they are smart.
Dec '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Three things:
1.
You have penned my inner groanings in the same way the Spirit intercedes when words fail.
2. The bottom is the only location to set a ladder on which to climb out of a hole.
3. If I was still a drinker I'd pour us both three fingers of something tastey and toast the oblivion with you.
Mar '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
I cannot talk you off when I'm standing next to you looking down. A vote for Romney is an endorsement; individuals can suger coat or rationalize it in any manner they choose, "holding their nose" or what-not, yet it is still an endorsement. The vote of his most dedicated admirer is worth exactly the same as the one cast by someone who feels the need to take a shower afterwards. At some point you must stand by your principles for them to mean anything. Romney is not a conservative. I will not voluntarily participate in my own enslavement by a mushrooming federal behemoth no matter who is conducting it, Democrat or Republican.
Edited on Oct 12, 2011 at 10:50amJan '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Your other alternate title should be:
Turn off your brain and just have faith that everyone will suddenly embrace conservative principles in the midst of economic and social chaos.
It a brilliant idea. No, it is reasoned and totally evidence based. Really. Keep up the good work, I'm convinced.
Edited on Oct 12, 2011 at 10:59amAug '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
I'm afraid this is a one-way trip, folks. This country is going over the cliff no matter who we elect (it's been heading that way for a very long time) and it ain't coming back!
I for one would like to milk another 20-30 years out of it if we can. No chance of that happening if we re-elect Obama...
Dec '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Any recommendations on how to enjoy the ride?
Aug '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Then obviously we need to make sure Herman Cain gets the nomination.
If we keep assuming a Romney nomination as inevitable, that's exactly what it will be.
Edited on Oct 12, 2011 at 11:54amJul '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
WC, weren't you all geared up for the Cain train half an hour ago?
If you're feeling this mercurial I recommend you avoid ledges for a bit.
Sep '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
raycon:
The stupid party will never wise up if we continue to convince them that they are smart. · Oct 12 at 10:36am
I agree with your thoughts, but have you considered this "stupid" party has mange to string conservatives along for 20 plus years. Not my definition of stupid. More like smart two-faced professional politicians.
Apr '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
I refuse to accept the Romney nomination as fait accompli. I'm sorry. In fact, I'll admit it starts to get my dander up every time I get told it's a done deal. No offense is meant, but I refuse to believe that this nomination process is over before a single vote has been cast.
Now on topic: I believe we're at the tipping point. Perhaps others do as well, which is why emotions seem to be so rampant in this process. If Obama gets four more years, liberty in this nation will cease to be as we know it, or knew it in the past. Even if we get a mostly-conservative congress, the President has repeatedly shown that he's willing to completely sidestep the legislative process and do as he and his cronies will without thought of the legislative process. My suspicion is that another four years will only accelerate this process. I don't know what will happen then.
Aug '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
The King Prawn
Any recommendations on how to enjoy the ride? · Oct 12 at 11:30am
Yes. This is still the best country on earth and there is still plenty of opportunity for people to get ahead and you live in a beautiful part of the country (Seattle, right?) and we can still enjoy our rights without being kidnapped in the middle of the night and the cruise ships are still running and God is still in the Heavens above!
If that isn't enough I'll get you some more...
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
WC, I hope that was a blow-out rant to ease the frustration. Believe me, I'm feeling it too, to the point that I didn't even watch the debate last night. But let me remind you what you've been faithfully bringing up to other folks on Ricochet. SCOTUS. Say the Democrats retain the presidency, the economy bottoms out a la Greece and in 2016 or 2020 there's a massive conservative renaissance, but in the interim the supreme court gains two or even three liberal justices through retirements and/or deaths. It's unlikely but not impossible. So, no, there's no rationale for sitting it out. I know you know all this. You just need a reminder.
Edited on Oct 12, 2011 at 12:00pmSep '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
It is hard to see how the debt that has been accumulated will be liquidate without a financial collapse. It would be better for this to happen with a democrat in the WH, that way they will get most of the blame. That would increase the likelihood of limited gov principles being embraced. .Ten years from now there is a better than even chance things will look much better than today. That's not saying the next few years will be pleasant.
Jan '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Oh my Lord, there has to be a run on Reynolds Wrap with all the ridiculous tin foil hat talk happening. Get a grip people.
Edited on Oct 12, 2011 at 12:02pmApr '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
If Romney wins, I'll admit I'm wrong.
If he doesn't, I officially reserve the privilege of saying, "I told ya so," and changing my screen name to "C. U. Smuglas" for at least one day.
Dec '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
BThompson: Oh my Lord, there has to be a run on Reynolds Wrap with all the ridiculous tin foil hat talk happening. Get a grip people. · Oct 12 at 12:01pm
Edited on Oct 12 at 12:02 pm
That comment has no connection to reality and makes absolutely no sense.
Dec '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
BThompson: Your other alternate title should be:
Turn off your brain and just have faith that everyone will suddenly embrace conservative principles in the midst of economic and social chaos.
It a brilliant idea. No, it is reasoned and totally evidence based. Really. Keep up the good work, I'm convinced. · Oct 12 at 10:58am
Edited on Oct 12 at 10:59 am
C'mon, B. What's more brainless? Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? Or pulling the plug and starting something new (based on something old, like liberty and free enterprise)?
Romney is just stale and cynical. When I hear him accusing the other GOP candidates of wanting to take money out of Medicare, I just want to scream, "There isn't going to BE a Medicare much longer! Not for the poor, not for the rich, and not for anyone in between!" A President Romney may -- MAY -- postpone the inevitable. He's not going to shrink government. When you hear him say, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," will you let me know? I'm still considering my position.
Mar '11
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Have you even looked at who Romney's judicial appointments were while he was governor? We would be lucky if the worst we got from him is another Souter.
Dec '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
Palaeologus: WC, weren't you all geared up for the Cain train half an hour ago?
If you're feeling this mercurial I recommend you avoid ledges for a bit. · Oct 12 at 11:33am
Yep. I still think Cain would be a better nominee and better president. I'm representative of much of the primary electorate, which is operating in stampede mode. We want the best conservative alternative to Romney. But, even conservatives are saying Romney is inevitable. I'm just assessing my position based on the possibility of that claim.
Dec '10
Re: Is There a Decent Rationale for Sitting-Out 2012?
C. U. Douglas: If Romney wins, I'll admit I'm wrong.
If he doesn't, I officially reserve the privilege of saying, "I told ya so," and changing my screen name to "C. U. Smuglas" for at least one day. · Oct 12 at 12:15pm
I would be overjoyed to call you Smuglas.