Much has been made this election cycle about the conservative credentials of John McCain. The MSM seems to have trouble understanding why a noticeable percentage of conservatives are having trouble accepting his current front runner status. Conservative talk radio is being told to shut up, fall in line, support the party. Heck, I have even had a few mini-conversations with a few of you who believe McCain is a true conservative. Follow me over the fold for an illustration that I hope will help understand why I am losing sleep about this election whether or not my side wins.
First things first. Words have meaning, so I believe it is best to define what conservatism means to me. Just having an R behind your name does NOT make you a conservative. This of course is a problem because Bush is often labeled a conservative, or as he says compassionate conservative, whatever that means. Conservatism is an ideology, just as liberalism or progressivism. A conservative believes in a strong military, social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. Stong military you can figure out on your own and also includes national security. Social conservatism encompasses life issuse, family, and marriage. Fiscal conservatism encompasses low taxes, small goverment, free market, and free trade.
Most Americans are not as engaged in politics as you and me. They don't visit sites like this. They are not aware of the FISA debate. They were not aware of the Amnesty Bill. Most American's don't really know where the presidential candidates actually stand and what there records are. Many will not start seriously thinking about the presidential election until October or won't vote at all. Others may be McCain democrats or Obamacans this year.
Then there are those like you and I who are interested in the goings on in DC. We take great care to stay up to date on nearly a day to day basis. We meticulously look at each vote our representatives cast, each speech our governors make, each stance our politicians make. We have very strong viewpoints and are very quick to hit the phones when those who represent us vote in a way that does not represent our values. At election time we work our butts off to assure those who are in office will best lead the country based on the ideologies we hold so dear. This may never have been more evident then when there was a successful effort to beat Lieberman in the primaries in '06 (if that year is wrong forgive me.)
To the best of my understanding, the fight against Lieberman was mainly due to his stance on the war. It took one major issue to rally the troops and shead him from the party.
Now while McCain can certainly claim to be strong on national security, he has many shortcomings in the other two portions of conservatism. I am not going to go through the laundry list of offenses because for the purposes of this exercise it is not important. The point is that in the eyes of many conservatives he has many major stances to answer for. Like you, many of us don't just look at party affiliate when we cast our vote. We look at a vote as our personal endorsement of that candidate and it is very hard to endorse that candidate, regardless of party, when we disagree with them so deeply.
When push comes to shove I may end up voting for McCain this November. Some of it depends on who his running mate is, but more of it will depend on rationalizing the many disagreements I have with him. I assume I will have to go through a similar rationalization process that some of you did for Lieberman to have retained his seatin the senate as an independent.
Update: I am not suggesting that Lieberman would or should run this year. I am merely using him as an example of when no matter which side your on, when one strays too far, those of us who are active and pay attention have trouble voting for them.