Losing The Courts
The Anchoress has a post up that was picked up as a feature on Real Clear Politics (congratulations, my friend!). As always, it is beautifully written, sculpted, layer by layer into a towering edifice of reasonable discourse. And she blasts the people who are thinking of forming a third party challenge if the Republican candidate is not quite Christian enough. As she points out, running a third party candidate would be political suicide for the Christian right. We have seen all of this before.
Had Ross Perot not run in 1992 it is unlikely Bill Clinton would have been president. I suspect the Democrats would like nothing better than to see a third party of conservative Christians siphon just enough votes away from the GOP to do the same for Hillary.
We’re already watching the Clintons re-run all their moves from the ‘92 playbook. Triangulation Kitty is again being served up to feed the masses, this time with Bill as the Hard Left Outside and Hillary as the Softer, Chewy and Yummy Center. We’re already watching the press do what it can to bury any negative perspectives on the Clintons and their team. (Notice that Hillary said she gave the Hsu money back to the donors and the press said, “oh, fine…no story here anymore!” Next that money will be re-donated to her campaign). We’ve seen the reemergence of Sandy “Pants” Berger as a trusted advisor, and Harold Ickes as himself. The Clintons have no reason not to believe that what worked before will not work again. All that is needed now, is the “third party” mindset that brought Bill Clinton his presidency on a buckled platter.
And here it comes.
I’m going to hate watching Mrs. Clinton assume the presidency with 42% of the vote, like her husband did, and I’m going to hate watching her get sworn in in January ‘09, while her husband holds the big bible and bites his lip, and I’m going to really hate everything that comes after it. So will you.
The third-party pipe-dreamers will once again make the Clinton tag team victorious. And with a Supreme Court likely to need three quick replacements in ‘09, the third party folks will watch as the court becomes a permanent 5-4 liberal majority activist court - for decades. Decades, folks. The America you think you’re going to “preserve” with your third party candidate may become unrecognizable in a very short time. The Roe v Wade you think you’re going to reverse with your unelectable third candidate will seem almost quaint when compared with the “compassionate” euthanasia and the “practical, community-serving, environment saving” limitations on life you’ll be watching get handed down as law by an activist court determined to see the Constitution as a “living” and flexible document.
That is the looming disaster: losing the courts. We already see the Democrats blocking judicial nominees. You know they are balking so that they can pack the courts if they win the White House. And activist, leftist courts are already a problem. Conservatives watched all of this play out before. They watched as the courts leaned farther and farther to the left. They watched as third party candidates split the votes at a crucial time.
And they have lost the courts. I was appalled at the people who sat out the last election because their single issue - illegal immigration - was not solved to their liking. Hey, guess what? It was not solved to my liking, either. But I voted. Because I knew how very important it was. The opposition sat out the legislative elections in Venezuela, too. Those who boycotted gave Hugo Chavez a free hand and a compliant rubber stamp to give him whatever he wanted. And he wanted the opposition's freedom.
In this case, sitting the election out or running a third party candidate gives the election to someone who will pack the courts and have a powerful effect for decades. Go ye and read what Anchoress wrote. She is more lyrical than I am.
But if you support a third party run because your single issue trumps everything else, then I submit it would be a really good idea to take a look at the beam in your eye rather than looking at the speck in someone else's.
Blogosphere, Politics, Religion | Gaius Tuesday, 2 October , 2007
By Mwalimu Daudi, Tuesday, 2 October , 2007 @ 9:23 pm
One name comes to mind: Lincoln Chafee. I would like to ask the Anchoress the following questions - was it really worth the millions that the GOP spent to try to keep him in office last year? “Missing Linc” endorsed Kerry in 2004, blocked John Bolton’s nomination to the UN, opposed the Iraq War, and recently announced that he is no longer a Republican (after thoroughly bashing the GOP, of course). Just how bad does a Republican candidate have to get before we should try to seek relief elsewhere? Are we talking Ron Paul bad?
I don’t support a third-party presidential candidate in next-year’s elections, but I understand the irritation that many conservatives feel about the GOP. I also think that the Anchoress is missing the real problem - dissatisfaction with the bumbling, tone-deaf GOP leadership is driving the third-party movement (sometimes I wonder if Howard Dean is not somehow running things at the RNC).
The Anchoress raises the specter of Hilly the Hun as Commander in Chief, and I admit that it is frightening. Of all of the candidates in the race, the Hun seems to be the most likely to become an American version of Robert Mugabe. It would be a scarier, more effective picture, however, if so many in the GOP were not intent upon turning the Republican Party into the Democrat-Lite Party. The Anchoress seems to have forgotten the following terrible political truth – when voters are given a choice between a full-blown insane tinfoil cap-wearing Democrat candidate and a moderately loopy tinfoil cap-wearing-only-on-holidays-and-weekends Democrat-Lite Republican candidate, the former usually wins.
It also does not help matters that the Bush administration has committed a mind-boggling number of unforced errors and self-inflicted wounds (the amnesty debacle earlier this year is Exhibit #1). While I support the Iraq War and Bush’s judicial nominees, it’s hard to look at the staggering number of blown opportunities throughout his administration and not wince.
By Gaius, Tuesday, 2 October , 2007 @ 9:39 pm
I’m not happy with a lot of things, either. You’ve been reading here long enough to know where I disagree with Bush - and the Republicans - on a lot of things. But losing the courts would be an unmitigated disaster and we need to face that. The courts have done a lot of damage with activist rulings and created law. That is the real danger here.
And yes, I’d like to bang some of the “leader’s” heads together lately. But we still have to have our priorities straight even if they don’t always.
By feeblemind, Tuesday, 2 October , 2007 @ 10:35 pm
Your point is well taken Gaius, but the GOP has no one to blame for the position they are in but themselves. I don’t think brow beating or threatening the conservative base is going bring many back on board.
By Gaius, Tuesday, 2 October , 2007 @ 10:43 pm
Then they will win the battle and lose the war, Feeblemind. It is really that serious.
I’m not happy with the GOP at this point, either. But I’m used to my nose, my face would miss it.
By syn, Wednesday, 3 October , 2007 @ 6:41 am
Add the fact that Bus banned ‘partial birth abortion’ which had been advocated by members in the mediacl community since early 1990’s.
The Amnesty debacle has much more to do with the Republican leadership trying not to come off as ‘racist, bigoted, nativist, so that Christians voters would not be turned off by the ‘hateful’ rhetoric even though the topic was about “Illegal Immigration” It was despicalbe for me to see the Methodist Church harbor a formerly deported illegal immigrant for a year(wonder how much money the Methodist Church received from Soro for that performance) then use their performance as a way to bash Bush and Republicans as hateful, racist, bigoted, nativists for seperating a mother and her child.
By syn, Wednesday, 3 October , 2007 @ 7:00 am
Why do deeply-held social conservative Christians eternally vote for the party of abortion; 95% of the deepy-held social conservative African-Americans continue to vote into office pro-abortion Democrats despite the fact that a third of all abortions are against balck females. Perhaps the Democrat Party needs the deeply-held social conservative Hispanic voter to make up for all the black voters they’ve aborted.
Why did America’s first black President give us “don’t ask, don’t tell” and “Defense of Marriage Act” I’m under the impression that Democrats are the party of ‘gay’ rights.
What’s God’s word on Christans such as Jimmy Carter who is a leader of the anti-semite movement in America; of course he says it’s not about the Jews he would just like to see oppressive Israel wiped off the planet.
Explain the Church of Christ, Methodist Church, Unification Church(sp?) aligning with moveon.org anti-war movement to “End War” while Christians around the world are having their heads hacked-off or their bodies blown up by Islamic Jihadists?
Perhaps those deeply-held social conservative Christians who continue to vote Democrat are what’s tearing the Christain Church apart.
It’s time for Christians to get their own house in order, define their Ethical Codes and stick to them before going after political parties.
As it stands now I have no idea which Christian Church(Catholic, Methodist, Church of Christ, Baptist, Protestant, Episcopalian etc, etc, etc) is preaching God’s word or is preaching socialist platforms. The illusions created by the Christian Churches is the illusion I would like to see addressed.
By syn, Wednesday, 3 October , 2007 @ 7:11 am
Pardon my grammar however it took me several attempts to post and the issue of exactly what defines the social conservative Christian is something I’d like to see addressed.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 3 October , 2007 @ 7:16 am
I don’t have a good answer for that. Yes, a lot of the churches seem to have socialist agendas. Some do not.
By FedUp, Wednesday, 3 October , 2007 @ 10:08 am
The problem is that ‘religion’ has been taken over by those seeking polical gain. It’s insidious. It is no longer ‘fashionable’ to be a person of faith. Evolution played a big part of the deteriation of organized religion as did all the problems with the Catholic Church. No one wants to be responsible to God and to follow the teachings of the Bible. This was foretold and we are now watching prophesy unfold. Satan is alive and well, but today’s ‘modern progressives’ don’t want to hear it. I truly believe that God has everything under control, but I would really like to help Him out… (insert grin here)
By syn, Wednesday, 3 October , 2007 @ 11:16 am
Sorry to bug your post however I must comment on the Anchoress’s comment on the ‘religious Right’. I believe in God though do not attend any church for the reasons I have already provided however, I find her comment about the “religious Right” to be irrational and confusing. Further, her condemation of the “Religious Right” is just helping to fuel more hatred towards Christians who are, as far as I can determine, are simply attempting to perserve the Ethical Codes within the Christian doctrine.
Now if the Anchoress is worried that Hillary would nominate progressive judges to the Supreme Court why not address those elderly social conservative Christians in the powerful AARP voting block who are voting for Hillary (or any Democrat for that matter) because she is protecting their precious Socialist Security yet they seem not to have a problem with Hillary nominating to the courts compassionate euthanizers?
What a Democrat platform: We will save precious Socialist Security by pre-maturely pulling the plug of eldery who are taking up bed space and draining precious resources off our wonderful free health care!
After I was mugged by reality on 9/11 I had some hope that the foundation of the Christian-Judeo community would be able to secure a furture in freedom and liberty especially after reading Mark Steyn’s America Alone and witnessing the death of Western Europe due to the decimation of Christianity and the imposition of dreadful collectivist Socialism.
How come none want to address the way the Christian religion has been politically manipulated in order to shore-up Socialist agenda.
From my perspective, the Anchoress is going after the wrong social conservative Christians for all the wrong political reasons and this is not good for America’s future.