A Stitch in Haste

First, some disclaimers:

–I always “vote,” in the sense that I always show up at my polling place, voter registration card in hand. I sign in, go into a booth, draw the curtain, admire the democratic process, maybe flip some levers, and walk out.

–I live in a Blue State. In fact, I live in the bluest borough of the bluest city in one of the bluest states in the country. So I’m extremely comfortable in voting my conscience (i.e., if anybody’s vote doesn’t count, it’s mine).

–I only ever vote for President, Senator, Governor and Mayor, and on bond issues and referenda. Never for lesser offices (including the House), and also never for judges.

The candidates:

First, I dismissed John Kerry’s campaign for president yesterday (twice, in fact). He would be Carter II, both in economics and foreign policy. Everything good about the Bush Administration would be slowed or stopped; little if anything bad about the Bush Administration would be changed. His total brain-death on the Social Security crisis, his hostility toward business and the successful, his presumptuous apathy toward gay marriage, and even his dingbat wife and his worse-than-Quayle running mate, all honestly make me question — seriously question — the competence of anyone who would vote for him. Stay at home if you must, but please do not vote for this man.

(SIDEBAR: Notice I didn’t use the V-word. That’s how it should have been all along. I give him neither credit for his record nor demerits for the questions surrounding it. I just don’t care.)

Next, Badnarik. I have only word for him: nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

Now, as for President Bush:

The President has done many things right. He has been absolutely 100% correct on the War on Terror, the war in Afghanistan and the (entirely proper and justified) invasion of Iraq. To the extent he is able to implement any part of his “Ownership Society,” and especially any move toward individual Social Security accounts in a second term, so much the better.

Bush has, however, been less than successful in other areas: the reconstruction of Iraq is a borderline failure and is worsening. I also have ongoing concerns about civil liberties, the PATRIOT Act, free speech zones, etc., in a second Bush term.

I am deeply concerned about his potential to nominate at least one, probably three, and perhaps even more Supreme Court justices. He will almost certainly appoint the next Chief Justice. And yes, I do have some minor concerns about his overall intellectual ability, which I used to discount by turning to the competency of his senior advisors. The only problem is that now I’m having concerns about their intellectual ability too. Hopefully there will be some resignations and realignments in the next term (this is not a president who fires people — he’s not even a president who vetoes anything).

All the above are essentially a wash, so I must now turn to the President’s naked failures:

1. Protectionism — Bad enough on its face, but when it’s done as a brazen boondoggle to buy votes in key states, it’s all the more shameful. Steel, shrimp, socks, etc. Just plain wrong.

2. Budgetary Drunken Sailor Syndrome — Who needs Hillarycare when you have President Bush? Just the notion of a prescription drug benefit under Medicare would be enough to issue a major ding to Bush’s report card, but there was so much more.

SIDEBAR: The deficit, by itself, is of little concern to me. Yes I’d like to see a balanced budget, but not by the burden of higher taxes. In that sense I’m a Greenspanian (and a true libertarian) — the best of all possible worlds is one with low taxes, low spending and balanced budgets. The President of course did the right thing by cutting taxes. If spending had been kept in check, with increased deficits the result, I would not have been very upset. But the total lack of interest in even discussing keeping federal spending in check will set a regrettable precedent for the future. This is 21st Century Republicanism? If so, then I want no part of it.

3. Federal Marriage Amendment — You don’t advocate naked bigotry just to issue a hat-tip to part of your base. I have little more to say on the issue that I have not already said before.

So, netting it all out: I could forgive the President for any one of those three major failures (yes, probably even FMA). Given the apocalyptic potential of a Kerry administration, I might even be able to forgive #1 and #2 (but not #3 coupled with with either #1 or #2). But all three?

Mr. President, you once owned a baseball team: that’s three strikes…and you’re out.

Some might argue that I’m scoring the election “Bush 0, Kerry -1″ and ask how that’s different from “Bush 1, Kerry 0″ (i.e., a vote for Bush). And in a sense it isn’t different, except for the “mandate” factor (i.e., one less vote for Bush to invoke). And of course there’s always the question of my conscience, which is the only reason one really votes anyway.

Yes, I might prefer Bush over Kerry, in the same way I might “prefer” being deaf to being blind. But that doesn’t mean I have to shove an awl in my ear.

New York State Senate Race:

As for the Senate race, I would have much preferred the very libertarian-sounding Michael Benjamin as the Republican candidate (I hope we see more of him in the future). Why is this man not the Libertarian candidate for President? Why is he not even a large-L Libertarian? (Answer: Probably for the same reason I’m not.)

Still, I feel comfortable endorsing the winner of the Republican machine’s back-room processes — Howard Mills. He says all the libertarian things one used to expect from Republicans, including fiscal restraint. Although he opposes gay marriage, he supports civil unions and opposed FMA (opting for the “it’s a state-by-state issue” cop-out) — unfortunate perhaps, but better than Bush.

Other sorry excuses candidates include a 74-year-old Libertarian math professor who’s running solely on drug decriminalization, a mentally unstable crook, a communist, an ex-socialist who has been demoted to the Green Party, and a female Pat Buchanan. In other words: ick, yuk, blech, barf, and gimme-a-break.

Now can we please get this over with so I can focus on the 2005 Mayor’s race?

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