That's the same with me. I'm not perfect by a long shot, 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 understood that perfection is the enemy of the good and even of 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 having 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 eternally disappointed.
That's how I feel about political candidates. I will (as will all of us) ultimately 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 imagine 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 around like global warming, energy Independence from corn alcohol but to 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 really don't care what people in countries who benefit from our Pax Americana as they snipe at the USA. If you don't like it move to Russia. They don't like it there either. I'm just a little ticked at people who live under the umbrella of peace we bought and paid for with American Blood and Tears whining 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 who will move around for economic purposes (Immigrants, legal and otherwise). That we need to get control on their presence among us by implementing a strong Guest worker ID card program. Then sanctioning employers who go against the grain on this, George Bush had this one right and I wish people understood it. Bush Hatred Disorder has kept good policy from being considered. Forget building a fence, it's stupid, expensive and mostly 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 general population with good gun training. 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 felt invincible for a little while because he knew even the guards didn't have guns. 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 nutcases didn't read the signs that proclaimed these places to be gun free zones. 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. It might just slow things down a little. At least in yesterday's shooting in Colorado Springs at New Life the guards were armed. Kudos on the woman that took him out. That's more than the security at the mall in Omaha or Virginia. My candidate would see to it more people had guns. People trained in how to use them.
The same thing goes for water boarding and other forms of "Interrogation". Even if we never actually used it I want our enemies to fear being captured and questioned by our military and intelligence agencies. I want them to fear what we might do to them. Real fear. 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 cooperate with us. Big Stick and Speaking Softly still works. Nuclear disarmament and military ineptitude (which we demonstrated before the surge in Iraq) only emboldens international terroists who are kin to the Omaha mall and Virginia tech shooters. IF we ever 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. We can do better getting the government out of the health care business. If we must have a safety net, make it for those who need it. But do it with money, not control. 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. AND 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 political impossibility and in the long run only serves the politics of left wing nannystateism.
On personal freedom. I want a candidate who leaves me alone. Smoking bans are dumb. Gun bans are dumb. Music bans are dumb (rap). Religious bans are dumb. Seat belt laws are dumb. CAFE Standards for gas mileage are dumb. Formulations for gasoline in 20 different ways 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 no matter what. 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 line with this opinon. 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". Revenue sharing is what got us a national 55mph speed limit on interstate highways. I'm against matching funds. I'm against the federal government sending money to anyone anywhere. There are always strings attached.
On education. Get government out of education. Not even a no child left behind. No public education system at all. Sell the schools to private enterprise. I want a candidate that supports and endorses sufficient vouchers for education, money the government pays directly to providers for educating kids. I want it such 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 not 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 them. 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 one woman and one 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 within the foundational spiritual truths in the Bible. There are plenty. I want a candidate who prays. They all will anyway. I want a candidate who fears God because as the Bible says, "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.' " And, I want a wise President.
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 a phony. When I see accusations of unrighteousness from 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 accepting 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. Like my marriage example I'll have to settle. The one that's closest to my desires I will vote for and 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.
2 comments:
It sounds like you will back Huckabee
Ok here goes
Point one; OK
Point two; Good government is the answer
Point three; the market is for making profit, the government is for protecting citizens.
Point four; no one likes a bully, a misguided preemptive war or an endless occupation.
Point five; OK
Point six; OK
Point seven; because so many manufacturing jobs have been sent overseas by corps who have no loyalty to America families? These CEO’s are committing low level treason, IMHO….they don’t enlist because the Iraq occupation 3 and 4 tours of duty, Walter Reed and other scandals are not such great recruiting tools?
Point eight; there are too many guns out here to have any meaningful gun control laws. But more people with more guns…that’s just dumb.
Point nine; with a little googling, I’m sure I could find a boat load of instances where we decried other regimes because they tortured prisoners. But if you want America to sink to that level, praise the lord and pass the ammunition, but it’s not where I would go.
Point ten; if the insurance companies were honest, compassionate and trustworthy, I might believe that a free market healthcare system would work. But the facts show otherwise. When RR said government is the problem and then proved it…and the bumbling that continues right though the GWB regime…we should demand better government. We should have elected pols convicted of crimes to be held as traitors, jailed for life.
Point eleven; our constitution reads:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Point twelve; I understand, but disagree.
Point thirteen; you want to eliminate the need for taxes and replace them with a flat tax? That’s a curious though pattern. Didn’t we fund our original government with tariffs? How about that?
Point fourteen; effective government is best. Eliminate the need for fund raising. Ban campaign bribery contributions, it is our government, we should pay for the elections of our leaders. Against sending money anywhere? Even Jesus took a few fish and spread the wealth. Neighbor helping neighbor (albeit cross country) can only be seen as compassionate and admirable. I want to live in that country. Let’s stop corporate welfare. That should save us a few pennies.
Point fifteen; wait a minute, you just stated that you don’t want the government sending money to anyone anywhere and now you want the government to send money to anyone who starts a school in their back yard to teach kids the world is 6000 years old and the humans hunted dinosaurs. Silly. Pick a side and drive on it.
Point sixteen; drawing a straight (no pun intended) line though your “thought” train. Homos are the equivalent of person(s)….born with propensities to steal, kill, commit adultery…and should be jailed as such. Was there ever a mid-European dictator who put homo’s in jail, or was that a Mid-east mullah?
I don’t know why but the words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” keeps running though my mind. But your contractual point is well taken. Let’s call it marriage when it is done in a mosque, temple or church. Let’s have contracts for those who would not be welcome in the former.
You say “Those are aberrations people are born with and we don't endorse or support them.” Why is God going around born-ing people with propensities? What’s his problem anyway? He sends us down here with factory installed propensities that we are supposed ignore and praise him all day long and if we don’t ---smite and more smite. Sounds like God is a little insecure if he needs all that praise. And what’s with all the smiting? Why would he take all that time and love to create us when he knows darn well that some of us won’t pass his tests? It’s like asking a kid a question when you know she doesn’t know the answer and call her stupid when she can’t answer. Now that’s a sin. He knows everything, so why not just make the ones that will praise him and spare the others from smite. Unless he has an occupancy deal with the devil, I just can’t make head or tails of this policy.
Point seventeen; you believe this is important. I believe God is a private matter.
You go ahead and vote for Ron Paul and I will vote for Obama.
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