Friday, March 07, 2008

What Is America, And What Is She To Become?

Ann Althouse likes John McCain's new commercial. I happen to like this comment on her post, though:

Are the sentiments McCain expresses out of date? Is America still the patriotic country of 1776 that stands for freedom and principles (what McCain believes), or is it a post nation state that stands for nothing but a means to deliver goods and services from one set of people to another (Obama/Clinton). I.e., should our future be a continuation of 1776 or should it be the new post modern welfare state.


Excellent question to ponder. Regular readers know how I would answer this.

8 comments:

Eric W. said...

This is unrelated to this entry, but did you notice that they cited the Al Gore quote on the morning announcements as "Al Gore, 45th president of the United States"?

Darren said...

Maybe he will be, since the current president is only #43. I'm sure they meant vice president.

Anonymous said...

Do you plan to vote for McCain?
I seem to remember you calling him a socialist in an earlier post.

Darren said...

I don't recall ever calling McCain a socialist. I have, however, said he's not a friend of the 1st Amendment, and for that reason I will not vote for him.

Anonymous said...

Ah, my mistake. Apparently Huckabee is the socialist.
http://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/search?q=Huckabee+-+socialist%2F

What's he done anti-1st amendment?

Fritz J. said...

Anonymous; As for why he is anti first amendment, think McCain Feingold which limits various peoples (for example labor unions and the NRA just to mention a couple) right to speak before elections. Then read his tortured explanation for why he does not believe it is a limit on free speech.

On the other hand, I too swore I would not vote for McCain and then the reality of having either Sen Obama or Sen Clinton elected president set in. After much soul searching I have reconciled myself to holding my nose and voting for McCain with this caveat. If he selects Huckabee as Veep, then I will simply not vote for a president as that would place a theocrat in the line of succession. It would be bad enough to have a president who doesn't believe in the first amendment, but to add a person who believes the Constitution needs to be modified to reflect "God's Law" is beyond acceptable to me. If the Democrats were to run someone I consider halfway decent, McCain would also be beyond acceptable to me, but alas, they seem determined to run people that I cannot accept. The current presidential race looks to be the evil of two lessers no matter which Democrat wins that party's nomination. I can truthfully say that never before have I been so disappointed in the choices facing me in a presidential election.

Darren, off topic, but awhile back you mentioned reading some Ayn Rand. Try "Atlas Shrugged" to start as that will give you a pretty good idea of her political philosophy. In many ways it is simplistic, and she is not the worlds greatest author, but she makes some points in it that we would do well to think about.

Ellen K said...

Once again, if there were ever a season for a third party, this is it. I don't see a single candidate that represents my views. In fact, I voted in the Democrat primary because my vote meant NOTHING in the Republican one. I guess I wasn't alone since there were over three hundred cars at the Dem polling place and four at the Republican. Does this indicate a Democrat landslide? not hardly, but it should be a wake-up call to John McCain that we feel he was forced upon us and he had better change some of his opinions PDQ.

Ellen K said...

P.S. I did feel "dirty" after voting....*shudder*