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An Olive Branch to Trump Supporters: My Foolish Voting History
I’m a committed #NeverTrumper but, more importantly, a servant of Christ who believes in treating my neighbor as I would myself. That principle applies especially to contentious times such these on the Center Right. Before I condemn anyone else, I have my own — sometimes laughable — presidential voting history to remind me that I have absolutely no cause to even think about chucking a single stone at anyone here on Ricochet for making a different decision this time around than I have.
I wasn’t old enough to vote for Ronald Reagan, so the 1988 race the first presidential election I voted in. I supported Pat Robertson in the primary. (I told you I had no cause to even touch that first stone, so just start laughing now. I’ll wait). I was fine with George H. W. Bush getting the nod and voted for him, thinking I’d get Ronald Reagan’s third term. I was wrong, but he wasn’t Michael Dukakis, though he was — and is — a stand-up guy with an impressive military record.
The 1992 election was easy because there wasn’t a credible primary challenger besides Pat Buchanan, and even young, dimwitted Publius knew that Buchanan was a terrible idea. I vote for George H. W. Bush and still remember that awful night in my apartment, watching the returns and learning that Bill Clinton had won. I was never even remotely tempted to vote for Ross Perot.
Having learned nothing from the past two election cycles, I supported Alan Keyes in the 1996 GOP primary. (Just mock me now and be done with it. Again, I’ll wait.) You might see a pattern at this point: Throw some Judeo-Christian philosophy at me and talk about the Founding Fathers and I’m yours. I’m not sure whether Keyes was the biggest nut job of e cycle or me, and leave the question in your capable hands. I voted for Bob Dole, though I wasn’t happy about it. He was certainly better than Clinton and the allure of Perot still eluded me.
I left the GOP before the next presidential election cycle because I had seen more than enough evidence that the 1994 “GOP Revolution” was a fraud. They voted on the Contract with America items … and then got down to the business of expanding the size and scope of government, just a bit slower than the last bunch, while selling-out to stay in office.
In the 2000 general election, I voted for George W. Bush, thinking he could very well be another Reagan. (Yet another another excellent Publius talking mocking point. Please, please laugh at me). I was wrong, but don’t regret that vote a bit, given that the alternative was to put Al Gore in the Oval Office. Like his father, Dubya is a fine man and — again, like his father — a brave and a good leader. He didn’t see combat, but flying military jets isn’t safe or easy.
The 2004 election? Bush, easy. No way I wanted John Kerry messing around with Iraq, and only a fool would put John Kerry in charge of foreign policy (a point now proven beyond question). I didn’t like Bush’s domestic policy much, but I admired how he took a serious shot at Social Security reform. He was still a brave and decent fellow. I didn’t — and don’t — regret voting for him a second time.
The 2008 election? You rotten Republicans! Senator John McCain? Seriously!? Sure, only a fool would consider someone like Alan Keyes a good choice (I hear laughter again), but you had plenty of other options. Initially, I said I would not vote for McCain based on his politics and antics during the GOP debates. But going into that last weekend before the election, I decided that the cold, hard reality was that one of two people were going to be the next president and that I should choose. So I voted for McCain because the thought of Obama was horrifying and McCain was certainly qualified for the office.
By the 2012 election cycle, I’d been so beaten down by the GOP Lucy-with-the-football routine with classical liberals that I actually liked Mitt Romney, even if I had no illusions about him. So, fine, Mitt is some sort of RINO squish — Who loves you Rob Long? We do! — but his entire career was one story of success at fixing things after another, and noting’s more broken than the United States’s federal government. So, not only did I vote for the man, I donated to his campaign. I regret nothing and I’d do it all again.
The 2016 election? You rotten Republicans, again! You had a bunch of magnificent, demonstrably conservative candidates who have proven they can win tough elections … and you pick Donald Trump!? At least McCain was minimally qualified.
I’m not a huge Ted Cruz guy, but I gave money to him late in his doomed campaign, hoping there was a chance that the GOP would come to its senses at the convention. (Why did you stop laughing at me? Didn’t you see this was coming? I’ll wait again.) Of course, Cruz got annihilated by over five million votes.
So, I’m done. #NeverTrump. Ever.
But the commandment to treat my Trump-voting neighbors as I would like to be treated — and to say nothing of my comically foolish voting history — are fantastic reasons for me to treat others with respect. Look, I’m the guy who, at one point in his life, thought that Pat Robertson and Alan Keyes would make great presidents, and I treated my vote for McCain over Obama as the same sort of horrible “A or B?” decision that’s led many people to support Trump this time around. I get it. I sympathize. I’ve been there.
So, Ricochet, what’s your foolish voting history?
Published in Politics
No, but now you need to tell us who you’re voting for in November so I can place some bets on the other side.
Note:
Personal attack.Publius: What State do you vote in? It’s easy to be all high and holy if you’re in one where your vote doesn’t matter. Like California ain’t going for Trump, nor any other Republican. Texas, at least for this cycle, isn’t a Hillary electoral win. Now, if you are domiciled in a battleground State it’s a different story [redacted].
Confession is good for the soul, but not necessarily your social standing. That’s the hook a very fine Carol Burnett Show sketch hangs on: a frenzy of foible admission and relieved acceptance leads to the bar-clearing “And we’ve all had a homosexual experience, right?” from Harvey Korman. So OK: John B. Anderson and the Party of National Unity in 1980.
My fundamental belief that Baskin-Robbins has 30 superfluous flavors (the one flavored with orchid sex parts being the only one really needed) incongruously combined with overconsumption of apricot schnapps and paregoric is largely to blame. I feel better now.
Hey don’t go knocking Keys I love that guy. He has only been wrong once in my book even if we have a different priority list. Its alright to be a radical if you are right. To quote Jonah Goldberg from I think the 2007 NH Primary in a podcast when everyone was mocking Keys “…but he is right about everything”. Then again that was right before Keys decided to go off the deep end and become a birther. Seriously that is the only thing wrong with Key’s is he is (was?) a Birther. Then again I was one of only like 680 people who voted for him in Florida in the 07 primary.
I wish I could find it again but his speech on why he left the Republican party (it was to a Texas counties Republican party) a bit after the 07 Florida Primary is brilliant. It is still the best diagnoses I have heard of what is wrong with the Republican party when it comes to presidential politics.
I really do not feel that I need to apologize for my own voting history. In every case, I voted for the better alternative, based on the information available at the time. Thus, I voted for Nixon, Ford, Reagan, GHWB, Dole, GWB, McCain, and Romney.
In contested primaries, I supported Nixon over Rockefeller, Ford over Reagan (remember, we were coming off the Nixon resignation, and changes mid-stream were not clearly the answer in 1976), Dole over the field, GWB over McCain, Romney over McCain, Romney over all the babblers in 2012.
I have the same faith convictions as Publius does, but I never favored using government as an aid or implementer to advance that faith. Thus, I never supported Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, or Alan Keyes. Jesus told us to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and He never got involved with government as a means to advance His Kingdom. He spoke out against evil, but never tried to get the government to help the battles against evil.
In each case, it was clear at the time who was the better candidate, applying the Buckley rule.
This year it is not. The person on “our side” has no allegiance whatever to the Constitution, while also being four years old. He has demonstrated juvenile imbecility over and over regarding the Federal role and- especially- the US role in foreign relations.
I can’t in good conscience cast a vote for Trump, and I can’t vote for Hillary.
OK, top this: I voted for Kerry.
(My reasoning was that GWBush had made deeply suboptimal decisions in Iraq, and it was time to let someone else try to fix the mess. Then the Surge – which looked, and still looks, to me like the “best” possible decision at that time, given the circumstances in place – so I’m very glad I was not in the majority)
So, I suppose that makes you NeverTrump this time around ?
VomitingMyGutsOutTrump, I think.
Yeah, after you are through puking over Trump, go plant his yard sign in your yard to give some comfort to your horrified neighbors that it is OK to vote for awful Trump in order to stop Crooked Hillary.