For whom should one vote in the coming election? What is the principal factor one should consider in judging a candidate or a political party? Should one focus on what a candidate says he is going to do in office? Should one make one’s decision by asking, as some have suggested, what a given political party adds to the debate? No, one should not. One should make one’s decision not by reference to words but by reference to actions–and the motives behind those actions. One should ask: What does a given candidate or party actually do when it is in power–and why?
All of the Republicans who are now in office campaigned on promises of reducing government spending, cutting taxes, increasing freedom, and defending America. But what have they actually done? In regard to domestic policy, they’ve increased government spending and taxes beyond any liberal’s wildest dreams (alleged tax cuts are just that in the face of such massive spending increases). They’ve crusaded against open immigration, a crusade which constitutes an assault on the rights of all Americans to do business with whomever they choose. They’ve assaulted businessmen with (among other things) Sarbanes-Oxley, the most onerous anti-business law ever imposed on producers. They’ve crusaded against abortion and embryonic stem cell research, causing mass suffering and death of actual (as opposed to potential) human beings. They’ve pushed to require public schools to teach so-called “Intelligent Design” in science classes. They’ve crusaded against homosexuality and gay marriage. They’ve passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which is a huge blow to freedom of speech. And so on.
In regard to foreign policy, the Republicans have ignored (or befriended) our major enemies, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and thus given these murderous regimes time and leeway to train more jihadists, procure more weaponry, and plot more attacks against the West. Via the Forward Strategy of Altruism, they’ve brought democracy (i.e., unlimited majority rule) to the Middle East in exchange for the lives and limbs of American soldiers–who are now charged with the impossible task of resolving the consequent civil war–which is sure to end in another theocracy or two regardless of when (or whether) we withdraw what is left of our sacrificial troops. Having celebrated the “virtue” of democracy, the Republicans also set the stage for (among other things) the election of Hamas in Palestine because, as President Bush so aptly put it, “democracy is democracy” (would that he recognized the law of identity elsewhere). In response to the Iranians’ continuing efforts to produce nuclear weapons while chanting “Death to America,” the Republicans have boldly shaken a finger at them and called for more negotiations. In response to the North Koreans actually testing a nuclear weapon, they’ve boldly scolded Kim Jong-Il for defying “the will of the international community” and called for the U.N. Security Council to “condemn the test” and to “impose tough sanctions on Pyongyang for flagrantly disregarding the Security Council’s appeal not to detonate a device.” There’s more, but that should suffice.
In sum, the actual actions of the Republicans while they have controlled Congress have been utterly irrational, anti-American, anti-freedom, anti-life.
Why do Republicans take such actions? What motivates them? Religion. Their adherence to religion is the fundamental cause of their choices and policies. Consider:
- If, as religion holds, you are your brother’s keeper, and you’re supposed to “be openhanded toward
