When Heroism Is Not Enough

On February 9th, the voters of Louisiana will go to the polls to decide who will be the nominees for the office of President of the United States of America. By this time, the field has narrowed down to just a few candidates, and the Republican roster has been reduced to four men. Realistically, only two now have the delegates to make a realistic push for the nomination, those two being Senator John McCain of Arizona, and former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney. I am not writing this column to endorse a candidate. The candidate that you choose is entirely up to you. In truth, I have been trying very hard to NOT write this article, because it is in some ways, a condemnation of a man for whom I have a great deal of respect.
John McCain is a war hero. He is a veteran, and a former P.O.W. John McCain’s body has been ravaged because of his devotion to duty as a soldier. Because of the time he spent in the “Hanoi Hilton” he cannot raise his arms higher than his chest. His hands do not function well. He requires assistance just to get dressed. John McCain has made sacrifices that I will never be able to relate to, but heroism and sacrifice are not enough. There are several reasons why I cannot vote for John McCain in the primary.
Let us begin with that issue which is most important to me, integrity. Senator McCain was roundly criticized this week for making a false statement regarding Governor Romney, his chief opposition. He stated that Governor Romney supported timetables for mandatory withdrawals of our troops in Iraq. Not only is this not true, but he did so, claiming that this made Governor Romney no different than the Clintons. That is an interesting claim, considering how closely Senator McCain’s positions on so many issues mirror that of the Democratic Party.
It was John McCain, along with Senator Ted Kennedy who offered the amnesty bill disguised as “immigration reform.” The American people rose up and squashed the attempt to pass a program that offered resident visas to border jumpers without securing those same borders. The program allowed illegal immigrants, and let me stress the word illegal, to bypass a majority of the red tape and get on the fast track to citizenship. This while people who have followed the rules and tried to gain citizenship through proper channels had to sit back and watch the illegals move to the front of the line. Not exactly an exercise in fairness.
Senator McCain also reached across the aisle to Senator Russ Feingold and together, they assembled the “campaign finance reform” act. The most far reaching assault of political free speech since the 1976 Buckley vs. Valeo decision put an end to these kinds of roadblocks by ruling that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech. Senator McCain swore an oath to defend and protect the constitution, then in one fell swoop, began to tear it down.
Perhaps we should look to the “patient’s bill of rights.” Senator McCain, along with Senator Kennedy and Senator John Edwards gifted the trial lawyers of America with the biggest boon since the tobacco settlement. If you’re still not convinced, perhaps you should look to the blow he dealt to the pharmaceutical industry and its research and development with his plan for the reimportation of drugs.
There is also this against him. John McCain has been fighting the economic battles of the Democratic Party as well. He opposed the tax cuts that President Bush proposed in 2001, why? “I’m not going to do tax cuts for the rich.” Senator McCain, I received that tax cut in 2001, am I rich? Anyone who knows me knows that I am not. In fact, at the time, I was barely making above minimum wage. Tax cuts for the rich? Isn’t that class warfare rhetoric? Have we started pitting rich against poor, black against white, man against woman? These are not the statements of a conservative. In fact, none of this constitutes the actions of a conservative.
To be honest, Senator McCain has done his dead level best to impede the progress of the conservative movement since he joined the Senate. The most glaring example of this that I can give is his efforts to stop the confirmation of conservative judges between 2000 and 2004. Yes, a Republican Senator, in a Republican controlled Senate sided with the Democrats to extend the filibuster of judicial nominees. The filibuster rule was never meant to apply to judicial nominations; in fact the Senate has no constitutional authority to use filibuster in such a fashion. The loophole in the rule was going to be closed by the Senate Republicans until John McCain rode in with his "Gang of fourteen". That’s right. Seven “moderate” Republicans and Seven Democrats that blocked the rule change and allowed the Democrats to continue to block those judicial appointments that might support the constitution as it was written rather than as they’d like it interpreted.
I cannot vote for such a man as the nominee in my party. Should it come down to a choice between him, and Obama or Clinton, well he’s still the better choice than either of them, but it would be the equivalent of asking me if I’d rather be shot in the chest or in the head. I’m sorry, Senator McCain, that you’ve suffered so much for this country. Heroism is just not enough to redeem your record.