Conservatives for Obama

Here's an interesting editorial from a former editor of the National Review, Wick Allison, who points out why he is supporting Barack Obama, who he infers is the true conservative candidate. Though his definition of a liberal is trite and cliché (obviously, he has no notion of current progressive thought), the editorial points out why conservative factions find themselves in an all-out civil war: it is the realists versus the fantasists. Here is a representative passage:

Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.

But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts—a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war—led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. Meanwhile, a movement that once fought for limited government has presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy using conservatism as a mask.

As Wick points out in closing:

“Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” As a cause, conservatism may be dead. But as a stance, as a way of making judgments in a complex and difficult world, I believe it is very much alive in the instincts and predispositions of a liberal named Barack Obama.

So, when you do go to vote this November (or you choose to vote early as we did yesterday), try to get out of the trough that the political parties have slopped up for us. Get out of the the conservative vs. liberal morass, put you head above the muck and look around. Breathe deep, relax, and truly consider which candidate will make us safer, reconnect our country to the rest of the world, and provide a strong foundation for moving forward into the next century.

Happy voting.

jg

Update: Hell, why not just title it Americans for Obama?