Not Voting

Political Philosophy
21

reagan i thought was a decent president. probably the best we’ve had this century.

I would strongly disagree. Reagan was the president who started the tradition of the Republican party eating out of the New Right’s hands.

22

I would strongly disagree. Reagan was the president who started the tradition of the Republican party eating out of the New Right’s hands.

who is in your opinion the best president of this century? And please dont say bill clinton.

23

who is in your opinion the best president of this century? And please dont say bill clinton.

Clinton? haha! No way! Off hand, if I were to say anyone during the 20th century were a good president, it would have to be one of the pre-FDR presidents. However, I can’t say I’ve studied any of them enough to have an intelligent answer.

24

There really isn’t a good answer to the question, “who was a good president in the last century?”. But if the restriction were lifted, I’d be all too happy to answer, “George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.”

25

There really isn’t a good answer to the question, “who was a good president in the last century?”.  But if the restriction were lifted, I’d be all too happy to answer, “George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.”

i didnt say “who was a good president in the 20th century?” I asked “who was the best of the 20th century?”

26

In my view, the two presidents eligible for the title are the ones who stood for capitalism: Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan. Perhaps Coolidge had fewer ideological flaws (at least fewer that I know about), but in terms of rhetoric, Reagan has no match.

27

This not an easy decision by any means, especially since I think this will be one of the most important elections in our nation’s history. If John Kerry wins, I think it will be one of the most serious setbacks to capitalists since the election of FDR.

I can’t justify not voting as long as we have free elections. We may not like the choices presented to us, but at least we have choices.

That leaves the question of who to vote for. Obviously, there is no way I could vote for John Kerry. The only candidates I can consider are Bush and the Libertarian candidate. Both choices have their pros and cons.

Bush Pros

  1. He’s willing to fight terrorists and other dangerous regimes

  2. He’s in favor of free market reforms such as medical savings accounts and privatizing Social Security

Bush Cons

  1. He expanded Medicare and Medicaid

  2. His religion leads him to make bad choices in how he fights the war and bad choices in domestic policies

  3. He doesn’t seem to know how to fight the propaganda war against the media elites and the liberals

  4. Gives lip service to many free market reforms, but caves in on specific policies such as steel tariffs

Libertarian Pros

  1. The only candidate sworn to eliminate the welfare state in its entirety

  2. The only candidate sworn to withdraw from the UN

  3. The only candidate sworn to stop the destructive War on Drugs

Libertarian Cons

  1. No chance of winning

  2. Unwilling to fight in Iraq

  3. No underlying moral philosophy

I’m leaning towards Bush at the moment, because we cannot afford to pull out of Iraq at this point in time.