mushinnoshin

Not a whole lot to say about the primaries today, no real surprises so far. I do want to say that the fact that the pundits are for some reason *surprised* that the Bible thumper won the Bible belt proves that no one should ever listen to the chattering class of pundits.

I keep hearing this dialog about who is the “real conservative” along with various attempts to explain the dynamics of that race. Listen folks, it’s so painfully simple that you should all be ashamed of yourselves. There is no “real conservative” because there’s no such thing as a “real conservative”. Conservatism is a coalition of war mongers, mercantilists, and theocrats. These factions don’t give a rats ass about the other factions, and to each of those factions, you’re a “liberal” if you don’t support *their* faction, even if you’re 100% on both of the other two, and it is impossible to support all three without contradiction. In this race, McCain has the warmongers, Romney has the mercantilists, and Huckabee has the theocrats. That’s all there is to it. There is no “real conservative” because “conservative” has no precise definition, despite every single conservative’s attempt to proscribe their own viewpoint as “the” viewpoint.

Anyway — I never gave any official endoresment, but really I doubt anyone reading me is undecided, nor is anyone confused about my stance. But for the record, here it is —

First, I refuse to oversimplify. My recommendations are conditional and multi-tiered. As for me — given that my first choice dropped out — my vote was for Gravel. But I’ll be first to admit that this is a contrarian position as much as anything, an anit-system vote more than a pro-Gravel vote.

That said, I certainly understand others not taking the gadfly approach, and truthfully, I don’t really recommend it. So, moving beyond, my “least evil” choice is Obama — by a mile. More than “least evil” in fact, I’m really starting to like the guy. I think what it comes down to is this — when he says “Yes *we* can”, I feel like one of the “we” for the very first time in my life. For the first time in my life, I see a candidate who represents — if not the obscure subcategories of my own beliefs — at least the general attitude of my peers. I may disagree with Obama on a number of matters of policy nuance, but for once there’s a real contender who seems at least to share my underlying values.

Believe me, you’ll never meet anyone more cynical than myself over the power of empty political rhetoric. Bear in mind I have *never* voted for a major party candidate when there was an ideological choice in the race — my *default* assumption is that if a poilitican’s lips are moving, they’re lying.

I think this makes my belief in Barack Obama’s sincerity all the more extraordinary.

Do I think he can do everything he wants to do? Well my reserved and cynical side says no. But I believe he genuinely *wants* to do what’s right for the country, and that alone makes all the difference in the world.

And beyond all that –”we” — the we to which he refers, the “we” that includes the youth, the outsiders, the independents, the libertarians, the disaffected — “we” need to win. Regardless of what he might or might not accomplish once in office — “we” need to win this year. This is the victory that stands between a cynical generation resigned to despair, and one that believes there’s hope for this country; between one that sees our glorious future, and one resigned to accepting our descent. This is no longer about Barack Obama, but about the empowerment of those who believe in him. Braisted needs to win this one. So do GoldnI and Jaxn. So does *everyone* who thinks that torture is un-American. So does everyone who thinks America should find the way towards green energy and stop bullying the world for oil, and so does everyone who thinks it’s time to stop scapegoating immigrants for the failures of our economy..

Of course I’d be remiss not to give honorable mention to Ron Paul. Look, if you still suffer from the delusion that it’s remotely possible to save the Republican Party and/or use then as a temporary stop on the route to libertopia — well, go for it. But deep down I’m sure you know as I do that libertarianism can never get a real shake until you give the people *real* libertariansim. The very reason statism thrives is in *reaction* to those who claim without basis to speak for free people and free markets. So do vote for Ron Paul if that’s where you feel your heart pulling —

But don’t let a homphobic, xenophobic, anti-choice, “intelligent design” Republican stand between you and the first chance I’ve seen in my life for the democratic primary to matter. Choose voting in heaven over ruling in hell.