|
| |
REYNOLDS |
|
 |
McCain, the Republican Base...
and a Dumb Idea on the Left
by John Mark Reynolds [author,
academic] 5/9/08
Picking on the reasoning of much of what appears at the Huffington Post feels unworthy, as if one is ignoring mother’s advice to not pick on the little kids.
The Huff-Po is so predictably irrational that usually it is best just to ignore it. However, the Huff-Po does have interesting writers and some good (unpredictable) thinkers. It also attracts some younger writers . . . and there is always hope in any interaction with youth!
One of them has argued that John McCain has a “base problem” as evidenced by votes against him in the primaries.
Contributor
John Mark Reynolds
John
Mark Reynolds is the founder and director of
the Torrey Honors Institute and Associate Professor
of Philosophy at Biola University.His
personal website can be found at www.johnmarkreynolds.com and
his blog can be found at http://scriptoriumdaily.com.
[go to Reynolds index] |
Since this has shown up in several places on the left, I thought I would respond to it and add a few ideas about conservative religious voters in the United States.
It may be true that John McCain has a base problem, though if so it is not showing up in most of the polls.
Since I am a Republican (my family has been in since Mr. Lincoln saved the Union and freed the slaves), a conservative (too much Plato and Burke as a kid), and a Christian, I suppose I am part of the base.
If the California primary were held today, I would not vote for McCain.
This is not because I have plans to “stay home” or am being swayed by Senator Obama.
Senator Obama is sadly a standard leftist and I am not. John McCain is not great, but he is more qualified and less likely to do harm.
So if I back McCain why would I (and most of my activist friends) vote for Paul, Huckabee, or (in my case) Romney if we could in an upcoming primary? Hasn’t the race been settled?
Are we mad? Are we seething?
No. And no.
Of course, the race is settled. I look forward to voting for John McCain in the fall. However, Senator McCain has yet to pick a vice-presidential nominee. The party platform has yet to be written. Many of us will “throw away” a vote hoping that a significant number will remind the candidate of issues about which we care.
In my case, in a situation like this in the past, I have picked the candidate who was most associated with defending all innocent human life and cast a vote for him or her. In this manner, I could hope to (marginally) influence the platform and the selection of a vice-president.
Does it work?
I doubt it does much, but it might do something. In any case, this is common behavior in my experience and is a much more sensible explanation (given what the polls tell us about the base) than the fantasy that one-fifth of core Republican voters are going to jump ship.
Why do people on the left make this sort of mistake?
I think many on the left misunderstand conservatives, because they assume we are leftists with wrong-headed ideas.
We are not. We have a totally different way of looking at the world, one I think fits reality better. We don’t put much trust in princes or potentates . . . we are not messianic . . . and we don’t think utopia is coming.
We are modest about the future and want government first to “do no harm.” We long to help the poor, are generous in our giving, but think most government programs harm the poor long term.
We are not ideologues like our libertarian friends so we also recognize some government programs either have helped or are so much part of the culture that it would do more harm than good to get rid of them.
We tend to vote for our leaders without idolizing them.
I do not think McCain has run a good campaign to date and though I plan to vote for him, I don’t love him. . . but then conservatives are not given to messianic impulses about their leaders anyway. As a Christian, I already have a messiah and when He returns it will not be to stand for election.
In short, I am happy to vote for a flawed candidate if he is the best of the two running. McCain does not need to motivate more marginal base voters to get out and cast a ballot, but I am assuming he will.
Wasting money firing up the base now is not productive unless McCain were starting a church and not running a campaign. He needs to not offend the base, but mostly should reach out to independents.
All my life I have heard that conservative religious voters were about to abandon the GOP and it has not happened yet. Maybe it will happen, but I doubt it.
We don’t love McCain, but we will take him and pray hard.
That is how a conservative Christian like a Burke or a Lincoln votes! ExileStreet
copyright
2008 John Mark Reynolds
§
|
q