Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Lesser of Two Evils . . . (The Long Version)

Illinois, where our governors frequently serve two terms, one in the state house and the other in the “pen house.”  We have the interesting dichotomy of making the choice, as my Republican friends say, of regaining the US Senate for the Republicans or leaving it in the hands of the Democrats.  We must, according to these erstwhile Repubs, get the United States Senate back under control of the Republicans for the good of the country.  Both sides say, “This is THE MOST important election in our lifetime etc etc ad nauseum.”
Well the truth is, in my estimation, that there is NO choice if you go with the “two” mainline party candidates that are running now.   My Democrat friends tell me the man for the job is Genulius, after all he is the lesser of two evils.  My Republican friends claim that Mark Kirk is the lesser of two evils.  In other words the Dems say Kirk is the devil and Genulius is the demon.  The Repubs say Genulius is the devil and Kirk is the demon.   So what is a concerned voter supposed to do? 
Well, should I look for an alternative?  How about an independent?  Maybe a Libertarian?  (What or who is a Libertarian?)  The RepubliCrats tell me, “Dr. Dan, you can’t vote for any of those or you will just be throwing your vote away, that person is not ‘electable.’”  These are the same people who continue to think they can spend more than they take in indefinitely.  After thinking about that for a while, it suddenly struck me that if our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ was running as a Libertarian, for instance, I would be throwing my vote away because I wasn’t voting for who I thought was the demon; that being, after all, the “Lesser of Two Evils.” 
I guess that means I have to go back to the drawing board and actually do some work and use my own sense of reasoning between right and wrong, because voting for the “Lesser of Two Evils” line of reasoning just doesn’t hold water in my mind.  Why wouldn’t I vote for what or who I knew to be right instead for someone who might be ‘electable?’  Why would I pay any attention to the naysayers?  How can a vote for what is right be wrong?  I guess I will just have to do my own analysis and let the ‘chads’ fall where they may.   
So, how do I figure this out?  The old build a logic matrix is probably as good a way as any. You know, chalk up the pros and cons side by side and use my somewhat limited powers of deduction to make a logical choice as to who I will vote for.  Of course my Repub friends and my Dem friends will probably figure that to be illogical because my matrix might show the obvious choice to be the Independent then my vote is thrown away or worse yet it becomes the spoiler for the “Lesser of Two Evils,” the demon.   The conversation would go something like this, “Now you’ve gone and done it Mefford; you have helped put the devil in this very important office. We could have had the demon.  Remember this was THE most IMPORTANT election since the last most important election.” 
I better get back to business and get started on the matrix.  The election will be here before I even get a start. 



Issues
Mr. Devil
Mr. Demon
Mr. Christ
No Guns for the People, just for cops
No Guns for the People
No Guns for the People
Sell your coat and buy a gun.
Kill Unborn Babies
Kill’em
Kill’em
Do Not Murder
Government Health Care
No Repeal
No Repeal
Repeal
Socialism and Communism represent the greatest good for the greatest number.
Of Course
Sort’a
No
More theft from our grand children so we can
live better today. / Economic Stimulation
Yes
Sort’a
No
The United States Constitution
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Like the Bible for the Christian, it is the Law for Congress



























Now that I have this laid out we can begin to analyze this in a somewhat logical manner.  Let’s see now, I believe, like the Founding Fathers, that guns in hands of the People “shall not be infringed.”  Infringed would appear to me to be pretty simple language.  Fringe is the very edge of an item.  So to infringe would be to touch the very edge without even getting into the middle.  It would appear to me to be an infringement if we passed, in the interest of public safety, a law like, “all guns shall be blaze orange, so the cops can spot’em better.”   Now the Devil and Demon would probably say, ‘well that is no significant inconvenience and in the interest of public safety blah blah etc etc we NEED this law to protect the police and the public.  It is really only a very teeny tiny infringement.  After all what is the difference between, “shall not be infringed,” and “shall not be infringed very much.”
In my opinion if you can’t trust the People at large with guns, then I sure wouldn’t want to trust the government.  Who is going to watch the watchers?  On the other hand Mr. Christ, the Independent, who can’t possibly win, is completely unelectable, would probably ruin the chances of a real winner like Mr. Demon by taking votes away from him in the election process.  Oh well, I think I’ll sell my coat and buy a gun anyway.
Killing the unborn child; we need to think about this.  What is our stance going to be?  Do we need a law against this?  We know that more laws lead to more government.  We know that it might be considered an invasion of one’s right to privacy, perhaps an invasion of the doctor patient relationship and many other things.  At the same time do we stand by and let someone kill a child?  The Bible says that some crimes without enough witnesses are best left to God.  So how do we deal with this?  I for one feel strongly that to kill the unborn child is a form of premeditated murder.  Do I however, put my opinions and beliefs on someone else?  I don’t know, and I don’t expect this one to be answered any time soon.  However, Mr. Christ would seem to say, “do not murder?”  How does this compare to Mr. Devil and Mr. Demon? 
Now to the issue of repealing the government health care take over.   Government run health care has no basis in the constitution.  Therefore if Mr. Devil and Mr. Demon are for continuation of the health care option even though there is no authority for such legislation, it would appear to me that they are saying, “the People and their Constitution be ‘damned.’”  The only option on this issue, as far as I can see, is to go with the one who is in favor of repealing an unconstitutional and enslaving law.  It would appear to me that Mr. Christ is presently in favor of restoring constitutional government, at least on this issue.  Shall we go on? 
Social programs constitute a huge part of today’s government expenditures and invasions and trespasses on the People’s liberty today.  These programs range from Social Security benefits to farm subsidies to food stamps, health care in the form of Medicare and Medicaid and on and on.  Social programs take from those who have received by working and investing in the economy and being producers.  Somehow the government thinks that it knows best how to spend money in the right spot so that problems can be resolved and fixed.  Some examples that I can think of quickly are the “War on Poverty,” the War on Drugs, and the War on Terrorism.  So far none of these problems have gotten fixed and in fact they have gotten worse.  The War on Poverty has created a whole subset of Americans who live on the ‘system’ and raise kids that tend to perpetuate the system to the extent that poverty will only continue to get worse.  The War on Drugs has created a huge growth in the prison and law enforcement systems to the point where this whole system has become what would be termed in big business as a ‘growth industry.’  How about the War on Terrorism?  There is no end to that either.  More prisons, more military toys to keep an eye on our people at home, and our neighbors around the world.  What???  No fence to keep the terrorists out on the Southern border?  If I was an Arab terrorist I would sure use that southern border to send’em in, wouldn’t you?  I can’t seem to find any constitutional basis for any of these so called social welfare programs either.  I think I have had enough socialistic and/or communistic programs, how about you?
You know a little stimulation now and then can be a good thing.  It can kick things into gear, kinda like the football coach giving a little ‘reaming’ to his team when they are getting cocky and overconfident.  Or, the coach might stimulate them by springing for pizza after the next win.  I wonder where the constitutional authority comes from for economic stimulation.  I guess just the big boys with the big toys like Government Motors that can’t fail, and big banks with the big bucks for lobbyists get the stimulation.  My little business coulda stood some stimulation real well.  I don’t think I would have spent the big bucks on a bonus either.  I think I would have invested in some debt reduction and improved efficiencies in my business first.   Somehow it would seem to me that there is a process of natural selection.  It appears that the bigger you are and the more you spend on perks for congresscritters the more naturally you are to get selected, for some stimulus that is.  Still, I looked and really cannot find any constitutional authority for taking money from those who are producing and succeeding and giving it to those who are failing and not succeeding. . .  Kinda makes me wonder a little bit, how about you?  Oh well I guess the congress can just keep borrowing the money from us, our children and grandchildren, so we can have a nice life now.  This Mr. Christ though, he doesn’t go along with that, still he isn’t electable, at least according to the experts in the Republican and Democratic parties.
Hmmm, that brings us to the United States Constitution.  Surely this 200 plus year old document can’t be taken seriously in the space age, and the computer age where thoughts are communicated at the speed of light.  This is an ‘enlightened’ society so much smarter than the Founders who wore these weird looking wigs with powder all over them.  It is kind of like that 80 year old guy in the Bible who led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, I think they called him Moses.  He came out of the woods and wilderness after talking to a burning bush and carrying a stick.  He came out of the wilderness and said things like, don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t lie about your neighbor, and a bunch of other stuff that surely cannot apply to today’s modern enlightened society.  When it comes to the government, can you really imagine a modern civilized government here in America getting out of control? 
In your wildest dreams can you imagine that this modern day civilized government would infringe on a fundamental God given right such as the right to keep and bears arms, or the right to the free exercise of religion in schools or public places or……. Woops.  I may have gotten carried away.  Actually you can practice your faith as you believe it in public places and schools as long as it is not Christian.  The evolutionists, the wiccans, the Muslims, among others, can practice their faith freely, ‘cuz that goes along with tolerance, and that makes it alright.  You can have your right to keep and bear arms, as long as the right is not infringed ‘too much.’  Perhaps the Founders didn’t really mean what they said.  Or, maybe the states that ratified the second amendment just forgot to put “too much” on the end the second amendment.  I sure would like to hear from the real authorities, the judges, about just what does, “shall not be infringed” mean.
As we can see there is no end to the analysis but I really think that I have enough for me to make an informed decision.  I think that rather than vote for evil at all, I will vote for the Independent, even though he is unelectable, even though he might take votes away from Mr. Demon.  I think I will vote for what is right.  I hope that I can maintain my integrity and vote for the man and not a party.  It is time to get in the face of the party leadership and confront them with a massive message of integrity first and foremost.
Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils just has not worked well for mankind since voting started a few thousand years ago.  Instead vote for what is right!

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