McCain And The Oath

by George F. Will - March 1st, 2008 - Newsweek

A billionaire — say, George Soros, a supporter of McCain-Feingold and donor to John McCain — can spend $1 million to disseminate his enthusiasm for campaign restrictions (on others). But 100 individuals could be forbidden to exercise their First Amendment right of free association by organizing through SpeechNow to pool $10,000 apiece in order to exercise their right of free speech to refute Soros. Does McCain think that would be fair?

This article by George Will (a conservative) in Newsweek (a liberal publication) is an interesting example of the complexity of the current campaign for President.

John McCain is a great patriot. He has proved his personal courage both during his years as a POW, and his stubborn insistence on going against the conservative movement within his party. He has not failed on all aspects of the conservative philosophy though. He remains a conservative on many many issues. Almost all of those issues are issues of social conservatism, not issues of intellectual commitment to conservative ideals.

That is the problem with McCain. He seems to not have a great deal of intellectual depth. He has never been able to come to grips with his own promulgation of rules which defy our Constitutional freedoms. Freedom of speech is Will's example and it is a good one. McCain-Feingold is a violation of every basic concept of free speech. Every attempt to defend its abuses requires violating our Constitution even more.

On the other hand, we have a candidate who now seems destined to be the Democrat nominee who is equally willing to abandon what most Americans see as our freedoms. Barack Obama is a socialist. Socialism is not compatible with the idea of private property. It is a belief system that insists private property can be taken for anything the government wants. Kelo is a perfect example of the distortion of Constitutional rights that allows socialism to flourish. The Constitutional guarantee of private property as an underpinning of freedom was redefined to allow taking private property for "public good" if it merely can be made to look like it will increase tax revenues. Such a guarantee is no guarantee at all.

Barack Obama has never served his country militarily and seems in fact hostile to the idea of any military action. Freedom requires a strong military. His anti-war position is more hostile to national security than anyone since George McGovern. He is a pacifist and that is of great concern.

Conservatives on matters of principal are not supporting patriot John McCain with any great enthusiasm. Liberals are going gaga over the pacificst Barack Obama. Both are prefectly willing to abandon Constitutional freedoms which they don't see as compatible with their personal political philosophies.

Neither candidate offers anyone who believes in our nation with a feeling they will live up to the oath of office to guarantee our Constitution. How this election comes out will be fascinating. For conservatives this is going to be an election based on the lessor of two evils philosophy.