Conservative Dilemma

Is it better to compromise our conservative principles and support McCain, or stand back as bystanders and watch the election unfold knowing we remained true and didn’t compromise our conservatism?

Now that my outrage and hotheaded emotions have subsided following the perfect storm primary throwing McCain into our laps, I am trying to analyze our options that will best ensure the survival of the conservative principles that have spawned the greatest nation humanity has ever known.

The cold reality is that at some level we conservatives understand the future course of the United States is at a crossroads. It is undeniable, that this November a tectonic shift could very well take place and true European style socialism will sweep the land. In addition the all but certain illegal immigration amnesty that will result combined with the continued refusal of America’s elected officials to secure our borders, means that the United States will have thrown out the melting pot principles that molded us for over 200 years as true Americans, one nation, indivisible under God and forever fragmented it’s citizenry into a myriad of small interest groups that care more about their own issues than about what it means to be American.

I think in analyzing our conundrum, it is best to draw from the experience of time, history and human nature.
Indeed our Founding Fathers had amazing insight into the dangerous human predisposition toward apathy when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence “all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while the evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

Another human trait that we all excel in, is worrying, even when the object of our concern is something we can do absolutely nothing about. Worrying about the expanding universe, the hour of our death or who will be our political adversary, are all beyond our control and is nothing more than a futile time wasting exercise in masochistic self flogging.

So while time will tell with absolute certainty who will be the Democrat nominee, their ain’t nothing we can do about it for now. And while we all agree that we disagree about John McCain as our nominee, the fact remains immutable, that he is. The question now becomes, as principled conservatives in an unprincipled political world, are we better off throwing the election to Hillary or Obama knowing with certainty the socialistic blueprint they have in store for us, or do we have a better chance with part-time Republican John McCain?

Lets analyze both scenarios. Hillbama is now President. Nationalized healthcare will be become law. 25 million illegals will become citizens over night and be ready to vote Democrat in the 2010 election. 50 million new illegals will be inspired to fill the vacuum and cross over to stand in line for the next Democrat mass voter registration & amnesty bill. Government will expand into every profitable private sector and regulate everything from our carbon emissions to the number of hours we can work. Once these changes have become law they will never be repealed. We will only sink deeper into the mud, pleading with elected officials to save us from the problems they created. Republicans will have no voice for 4 years and even though we will give it our best fight, the fact remains that we will be the party out of power, with no voice and no recourse. With millions of new voters added to the Democrat ranks, the Republican party will be at an even greater disadvantage. Come 2012 even if we manage to regain the Presidency, it will be virtually impossible to reverse the damage. What are the chances we will ever get rid of Social Security, the IRS, the EPA, Medicare, etc.?

If John McCain becomes President, then we at least have someone who is not a true enemy. He will have come from our party and he does have some occasional, albeit transient positions, that we can rally around. But more importantly we will have a voice. We will have the power of party influence, the power to support him on issues when he is right and the ability to have an effective voice to fight him when he strays. George Bush is an excellent case in point, where we were able to fight his positions on illegal immigration by the shear power of our grassroots unity. We roared and he heard the people and especially his party. And we stopped the disastrous immigration bill several times, the Harriet Myers nomination and other foolhardy proposals that would have undoubtedly come to pass had we not had a voice.

So yes in this time of war, this battle to save our nation, the Arab proverb rings true. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” John McCain is our only option at this time in history. And knowing full well McCain is no natural friend of mine, I recall the wisdom and guidance of Ronald Reagan: “ Trust but verify ”