Why I Can't Vote "D"
I hope I don't need to list all the reasons why I can't vote "R". But here are the biggest reasons why I can't in good conscience vote "D".
1) Free speech. Many Democrats believe that something they call "hate speech" does not deserve legal protection. That is a very short road to hell.
2) Guns. Self-defense is a basic human right. Just like free speech, it must be protected even at the cost of pernicious side effects. That doesn't mean machine guns for all, but it does mean that people who believe that guns have no reasonable purpose don't deserve to be taken seriously.
3) Federalism. Democrats believe that every good idea should be a federal law. This does occasionally result in a good idea becoming a federal law, but it also results in many, many bad ideas becoming federal law. The Founders were aware of that risk and wrote the Ninth and Tenth Amendments as a reminder. Modern Democrats--with the help of the Supreme Court--simply ignore them, and the result is a horrible mess.
4) Poverty. Democrats believe that poverty is an economic problem. In fact it is a cultural problem (on the social level) and a spiritual problem (on the personal level). The kinds of interventions Democrats advocate are aimed only at the symptoms, not at the underlying pathologies.
5) Economic Growth. Every economy faces a tradeoff between growth and equality: redistribution of wealth to promote equality hinders growth. The problem is not that Democrats prefer a higher ratio of equality of growth. The problem is that they don't recognize that the tradeoff exists. A few, more sophisticated, acknowledge that the tradeoff exists in theory but argue that we don't need more growth because we have enough resources to go around. That's pernicious nonsense, a head-in-the-sand refusal to imagine that we are not at the end of history. In the medium term, let alone the long term, economic growth is the best--and possibly the only--way to really raise the standard of living of the poorest members of society.
6) Ecology. Democrats allow an incoherent distinction between "natural" and "artificial" to bias them against human activity, resulting in policies that promote sub-optimal welfare.
Bonus non-policy reason:
7) A lot of Democrats are ignorant bigots. Not just the politicans, nor even just the people I read about; I include the people I know personally. They say and believe a lot of things that are stupid and some things that are outright repulsive. When Limbaugh or Bachmann or Akin says something despicable, we all go "Ewwww! How could *anyone* make common cause with these people?" Well, I've heard far too many "liberals" say (and mean) despicable things to be willing to make common cause with them.
Am I blaming the majority for the fringe? Perhaps--I certainly hope it's just the fringe. But you--yes, you--do the exact same thing.
1) Free speech. Many Democrats believe that something they call "hate speech" does not deserve legal protection. That is a very short road to hell.
2) Guns. Self-defense is a basic human right. Just like free speech, it must be protected even at the cost of pernicious side effects. That doesn't mean machine guns for all, but it does mean that people who believe that guns have no reasonable purpose don't deserve to be taken seriously.
3) Federalism. Democrats believe that every good idea should be a federal law. This does occasionally result in a good idea becoming a federal law, but it also results in many, many bad ideas becoming federal law. The Founders were aware of that risk and wrote the Ninth and Tenth Amendments as a reminder. Modern Democrats--with the help of the Supreme Court--simply ignore them, and the result is a horrible mess.
4) Poverty. Democrats believe that poverty is an economic problem. In fact it is a cultural problem (on the social level) and a spiritual problem (on the personal level). The kinds of interventions Democrats advocate are aimed only at the symptoms, not at the underlying pathologies.
5) Economic Growth. Every economy faces a tradeoff between growth and equality: redistribution of wealth to promote equality hinders growth. The problem is not that Democrats prefer a higher ratio of equality of growth. The problem is that they don't recognize that the tradeoff exists. A few, more sophisticated, acknowledge that the tradeoff exists in theory but argue that we don't need more growth because we have enough resources to go around. That's pernicious nonsense, a head-in-the-sand refusal to imagine that we are not at the end of history. In the medium term, let alone the long term, economic growth is the best--and possibly the only--way to really raise the standard of living of the poorest members of society.
6) Ecology. Democrats allow an incoherent distinction between "natural" and "artificial" to bias them against human activity, resulting in policies that promote sub-optimal welfare.
Bonus non-policy reason:
7) A lot of Democrats are ignorant bigots. Not just the politicans, nor even just the people I read about; I include the people I know personally. They say and believe a lot of things that are stupid and some things that are outright repulsive. When Limbaugh or Bachmann or Akin says something despicable, we all go "Ewwww! How could *anyone* make common cause with these people?" Well, I've heard far too many "liberals" say (and mean) despicable things to be willing to make common cause with them.
Am I blaming the majority for the fringe? Perhaps--I certainly hope it's just the fringe. But you--yes, you--do the exact same thing.