I saw little point in writing a (non-)endorsement blogpost this election.
I had at one point contemplated writing a post along the lines of, “Why I Condone Voting for Barack Obama,” but I’m no longer sure that I actually do condone it. Here were the bullet points:
- Supreme Court — McCain appointing even one Justice is simply too nightmarish to contemplate.*
- Budget Constraints make wild new spending difficult despite single-party rule. (Of course, budget constraints won’t stop things like the downright evil Employee Free Choice Act, indexing the minimum wage to inflation, Obama’s amorphous “donut hole” plan for Social Security and other low- or no-cost interventionism.)
- Single-party gridlock — Pelosi, Frank, Schumer, Rangel, etc., have their own agendas and might keep Obama, qua upstart, on a short leash. Unlikely, but conceivable.
(Note: I always “vote” in the sense that I always show up, sign in, enter the booth and close the curtain. Assuming, of course, that I’m not required to stand in line for two hours — let alone five hours. Sorry, but screw that — “civic duty” be damned.
As for pulling any levers — meh. And I only ever vote for president, senator, governor or mayor anyway — never for the pipsqueak moral defective positions. I also always summarily vote against all bond initiatives. And being in New York, a vote for president is less than worthless anyway.)
More thoughts from Perfect Substitute (but see also the comment there from the proprietor of the blog Libertarians For Barack Obama).
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*Apparently I need to clarify this point: Roberts replaced Rehnquist, not Stevens or Ginsburg. Regarding Kelo, the only constitutional issues that are at stake, today, are substantive due process and “civil liberties during the War on Terror.” And on those fronts, libertarians cannot afford two more Roberts or Alitos. See my previous post.
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As a consolation prize and apology for no major blogpost about my (non-)vote, here’s a Kip Clip.
Previously:
–A Stitch in Haste Withholds Presidential Endorsement (2004)
–Two-Party System: Where Lies True “Happiness”?
–Quo Vadis, Libertarians?
–Is “Gridlock” a Good Enough Reason to Vote for McCain?
1 response so far ↓
Link J. Philip // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:07 am
I don't recall that you had any issue with Roberts or Alito. Your posting on Roberts, as I recall, was that he was perfectly qualified and that democratic kvetching was pure politcs. I could be wrong, but that is my recollection.
To me, Kelo vs New London is nightmarish, and that was because of the liberal justices.