John McCain And The Limbaugh Effect

by Bruce Walker - October 13th, 2008 - The American Thinker

The Left long ago stopped trying to win arguments. The Left long ago adopted the Alinsky school of political warfare: Destroy your opponent. Portray conservatives as racist, homophobes, wife-battering moronic paranoids and that campaign of political annihilation is largely won. The political movement which sanctimoniously prides itself on rejecting stereotypes smeared sixty percent of America with a savage, humorless defamation. And, as long as no one raised the banner of conservatism for others to join, sixty percent of America sat quietly in their living rooms, wondering if anyone else really believed what they believed.

This is a great article that helps us understand where the American people are politically, but does not really help with the dichotomy within the conservative movement itself. A lot of people who answer conservative in these polls are really libertarian. That leads to the the vote in the polls of 60% conservative. There is, within people who agree on many issues such as abortion, still the question of what government's role in these issues should be?

I believe God gave me free will. A huge number of conservatives and libertarians share this view. It is in the bible. There are things that are sins that I do not want to do, try not to do and recommend others not do. However nothing in the bible I believe in permits government to declare all things sinful as also illegal. If they are illegal and government goons will throw me in jail if I do them, where does God granted free will come in? If sins are between me and my God, why should government be involved?

The answer to that is individual freedom. We must draw the line on government restrictions of free will to assure idividual freedom exists. I will not allow someone else to kill me or my loved ones. Because there is evil in the world , to be free I need some power to protect me and other humans from this evil. I have two choices. Barricade myself in isolation or form something we call government to keep order. Where liberals, conservatives and libertarians disagree is where to draw the line in government and the coercion it practices.

Some government coercion is good., such as when it stops someone from killing, robbing or raping another. Some government coercion is bad, when it takes from one and gives it to another which the government bureaucrat sees as deserving, or kills and imprisons to coerce surrendering to such tyranny. Liberals do not see this last as bad. In their world they get to decide what is fair and tyranny to enforce their view is okay. It becomes even more evil when the bureacrat is bribed by corrupt powers to use the force of government improperly. Liberals do not see that the goal of government cannot be to decide what is fair . . . since fairness is in the eye of the beholder and corruption is rampant. Seeking fairness, or a corruption of fairness, is the motivation behind all evil government has ever done.

Some conservatives have the same problem though. Lets return for a moment to abortion. There is no question that most people recognize late term abortions are killing a human being.

On the other hand there is a recognition, accepted as biblical belief until recently, that the soul does not exist at the time of conception. Science tells us that 50% of fertilized eggs never implant in the womb. Of those that do, 50% miscarry before the transition from embryo to fetus. Would any God kill 75% of his children? I cannot agree my God is this cruel.

There has to be some recognition that questions over whether this is a private matter of sin that God will deal with under the free will concept, or whether government should decide, are valid questions. Some conservatives want government to go to a woman and say, from the instant of conception you lose the right to determine whether you become a mother. They even oppose the bill that stops an egg from implanting in the womb. What they really oppose is the sin of having sex outside of marriage. That is where, in my view, they become as evil as the liberals. They are trying to make their beliefs the laws under which people are punished. Sin should not be the purview of government.

What they are proposing does not affect them personally. It does not affect another human personally. It affects their view of what others should see as fair and moral behavior. In their view it is not fair to have sex and not accept the consequence. It is not fair to try and avoid the consequence. Because they are morally outraged at the behavior (even though the behavior does not affect them) they want government to stop it. This belief ends the concept of free will and imposes on another what a third party sees as fair. It says this is not between you and your God. I will assure the power of the state is used to punish you for having a different view than mine.

This became an issue when liberal judges destroyed the concept of the rule of law and took it out of the power of the people to decide within the representative republic form of government which was established for our nation. Roe v. Wade was destructive of representative republic and the rule of law. It creates huge passions that distort rational views of other issues because it says the views of the public do not matter. It is an example though of why people who agree on many issues, still line up differently when it comes time to vote.

I believe that it is killing to have an abortion after the fetus achieves viability. It is a human. It has a soul. It should have the same rights as any other human.

However I do not agree that a pill which keeps an egg from implanting in a woman's womb is killing. If that were killing, then allowing an egg to not be fertilised would be killing too. Most women do this every month. Would anyone defend making it the law of the land that every woman who starts ovulation HAS TO HAVE SEX to assure the egg becomes a baby?

Having sex may be a sin, but I believe government should not allow anyone but the two adult people present to have a say in this or its consequences. Those are my views. Judges have decided that neither my views or anyone else's views matter. They have invented a right that cannot be defended as something our Constitution actually deals with. It is the prime example of the rule of judges subverting the rule of law.

Please notice that we are talking about opinions on which people have strong emotions attached. That is the reason for the wide spread between conservative beliefs and conservative voting. It is impacted by passionate opposition to some positions promoting government intervention in conflict with the desire for individual freedom. Individual freedom is more important than any individual moral issue. Imposing morality by law is in opposition to a recognition of God given free will.

This article talks about the powerful support for Rush Limbaugh and talk radio because of the frustration over the liberal bias of the MSM. It was the reason for the huge rush of support for McCain when he chose Sarah Palin. Recognition of the support by conservatives and libertarians for the concept of individual freedom does not convert into votes for someone who is not truly committed to individual freedom on specific issues.

John McCain is a big government Republican. A large number of Republicans are perfectly happy with big government, else the socialism inherent in George Bush's compassionate conservative philosophy would not have been so popular. However big government leads directly to tyranny. Until that view is as prevalent in conservative thought as the belief that taxes take away freedom while they take away money, Republicans will claim to represent the majority of people's opinion while losing the votes of many who share most of their beliefs.