Is Voting for Hillary Out of the Question for Sane People?
In presidential elections, I vote for the Republican. It’s a no-brainer. Democrats are for more government and more social control (except for woman aborting fetuses and gays getting married). Hard core liberals, as a group, are very intolerant. Just go to any of the big lefty blogs and read the comments. Or just read Atrios or Daily Kos blog posts, the two top lefty blogs, to see the models of intolerance. There is a kind of secular-religious fervor behind liberalism. The liberal ideology, and the attendant political correctness demanded of others, is so stifling that I just can’t bring myself to ever vote for liberals.
But this got me wondering. What would it take to get me to vote for Hillary Clinton? There has to be some scenario short of the Republicans nominating a Nazi. (Of course, to many on the left, Republicans and Nazis are pretty much the same thing. Ah, tolerance.)
What made me think about all this is that Mike Huckabee has surged ahead in the national polls. I still don’t know a whole lot about him. But I do know that he is a Baptist minister from Arkansas. So I have immediate reservations about putting a very socially conservative minister in the White House. Hey, it’s nothing against Baptist ministers. I was raised attending a Baptist church and I was married in a Baptist church. I just don’t want a Baptist minister in the White House.
But, given a Baptist minister vs. voting for Hillary, I would likely still lean toward the Baptist minister if he had a genuine desire for smaller government, cracking down firmly on illegal immigration, reduced regulation of businesses, Social Security privatization, and so on.
I have learned that Huckabee supports teaching creationism in the schools. Good Lord. That is just a way of teaching the evangelical Christian’s story of creation. So Huckabee would make this point of view more respectable. Living in Texas, where the evangelicals on the Texas state board of education often seem on the brink of declaring creationism real science, this all hits home with me. Having Huckabee in the White House would give a push to teaching creationism in public schools on a nationwide scale.
To be clear, Huckabee has said:
“I think that [students] also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism”. Huckabee also stated “I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally”.
Spare us the creationist pseudo-science. If creationism is taught on equal footing with evolution, how about teaching alternative theories as to whether the earth really revolves around the sun, or whether carbon dating is real, and so on?
I haven’t even researched this, but I’ll bet about a zillion dollars that Huckabee supports Bush’s faith-based initiatives of giving subsidies to church groups. This was a bad idea from the beginning - it erodes the separation of church and state. So with Huckabee, we will get public money going to churches and we will get creationism taught in the schools. What’s next - mandatory prayer times in the schools?
I am not a Hillary hater - although I’ve never been a fan of hers. Come on Republicans - don’t make me consider her as an option on election day.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:09 am
You know, I’ve had similar thoughts as you have– it’s just that as skeptical as I’ve been about Huckabee, I’d still support him head and shoulders over Hillary. While I find his Creationist push irksome, it doesn’t bother me much since he’d have little power to enforce it and– since Congress will still (regrettably) be led by Democrats, there will be checks and balances. Remember, even Reagan expressed his support at several points for giving consideration to Creationist teachings, but it didn’t affect our school systems.
OTOH, if Hillary were elected, we’d have a Socialist radical in power with intentions to tax the living daylights out of anyone who’s, God forbid, actually worked for a living. Remember, unlike Huckabee, Hillary would have a Congress of the same political party, and thus be able to cause even more damage since there would not be the same level of checks and balances. And we’d have at least 4 more years of the repulsive soap opera known as the Clintons on the national stage. The dynasty problem alone is enough to make me turn against Hillary. So while Huckabee would not be my first choice by a longshot, I’ll vote for him in a moment if he’s the Republican nominee.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Kaddis,
Also, if Hillary is elected, that would mean that some liberal Supreme Court justices will get appointed. That is another huge reason to not vote for Hillary.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Huckabee is wide-open-on the border. He is to the left of McCain and even Guiliani on that issue. Evangelicals are for him because their preachers tell them to be, but I wonder if poll numbers will hold up when people really get in election booths to vote. I personally think that Murdoch, which is to say FoxNews and ClearChannel (talk radio) are “talking up” Huckabee in order for no other candidate to gain early footing (like Romney, Paul, or Thompson for example) in hopes that Rudy or McCain (Murdoch’s favorite candidates) can gain traction in Florida, Texas, Virginia, the midwest, and more “moderate” Repubican territory. If they are too far behind in delegates by the time these states draw near (and if behind Romney especially), Guiliani would be in trouble.
Manufactured polling data should not deter Americans for voting for the candidate of their choice in these primaries. Polls can be extremely biased based on who does the polling. All the Paul, Thompson, Kucinich, Edwards, Tancredo, Thompson voters, and various other folks should still get out of bed and go vote, no matter what the polls say.
Hillary would be a disaster. We would have been “ruled” by a Bush or Clinton for at least 24 years if she is elected, and possibly 28. We were not supposed to have had royalty in this nation. Ive not made a decision myself, but will be very sad if Im stuck looking at Clinton on the Dem ticket and Guilaini or McCain on the Republican ticket. I’ll vote independent personally again if that happens, as I still refuse to allow the neo-con takeover of the party with my assistance—–but it will still make me sick.
January 6th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Stumbled on to the site by dumb luck. Like the quotes from Atrios or Daily Kos, but where are ann coutler’s? Trying to paint liberals as intolerant? Now thats just plain ignorant.
January 6th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Anonymous,
Actually, here is the post on Ann Coulter:
http://nospeedbumps.com/?p=1230
Certainly there are intolerant right wingers too.
“Trying to paint liberals as intolerant? ”
Yes, many are. Just read the liberal blogs and listen to their leaders. If you don’t follow the politically correct positions on issues, you are considered to have low morals.
The problem I have with many liberals, is that they claim to set the model for tolerance, when often they are setting the model for intolerance.