Thursday, November 06, 2008

Random Thoughts on Voting

Hmmmmm...have been pounded for being a single issue voter apparently unconcerned with being "divisive."

I've written this before, but "single issue voters" actually see their specific issue as a bellweather... That is, if you are, say, pro-choice, that issue so defines a candidate for you that you know what you need to know about the candidate. Not that complicated.

I am and have been a libertarian...I tend to trust the free market, even in times like these. I am very much a social liberal...I don't actually care who and/or what you marry, what intoxicants you consume as long as you don't crash into me, etc.

All 2A questions aside, our new President is an empty suit, Jimmy Carter Redux. His economic policies are old news, tried numerous times and always failed.

Divisive? Try true to my own beliefs!


-- Post From My iPhone

20 comments:

Unknown said...

If we believe that the 2nd Amendment is "the reset button on the constitution," then if it isn't the only issue, it's damn sure the most important one.

Anonymous said...

Michael, I mirror your observation, if you don't stand for this, how can you stand for that!! Rights are a core litmus test, if you can't believe in one, how can he believe in others?

Anonymous said...

How a candidate sees the 2nd Amendment tells me how he sees me. If he is pro 2A then he sees me as a fellow citizen. If he isn't then he sees me as someone who needs to be ruled over.

Anonymous said...

In this current case, Obama is only a "Carter-Redux" in some of his socialist and economic beliefs. Carter wasn't necessarily a "redistributionist". Oh yeah, he was a tax and spend democrat,but where they are quite different is in their views on accomplishing the "ends". Obama is a radical, hangs with radicals and shares their philosophies. So does his wife. Obama inspires others to do his facist biddings, such as smearing Palin and trying to destroy "Joe the Plumber", cheat, or do something nearly like cheating in their voter recruitimng and registration schemes, misrepresent the facts, camouflage his true self as the MSN did, lie for him, spin the truth, etc. The biggest unforgiven, or not even chrged crime is the mortgage melt-down. That has the dem's names all over it, including Obama's. I saw no such thing when Carter got in. Carter also wasn't anti-2A, or 1A, for that matter. In the end, we'll wish he were just Carter reincarnated as a different looking man.
Life Member

Anonymous said...

Years ago I worked for a company with a decidedly liberal employee demographic. I very rapidly learned that their language is made up of code-words.

For example, "tolerant" means you accept their viewpoint on something. "bigoted" means that dare to have a different viewpoint.

I once asked a woman why she didn't feel the need to be more tolerant of *my* lifestyle choices. After all, shouldn't she be more respectful of my "diversity"?

She cussed me out, called me a bigot and walked away.

I learned a lot that day.

Anonymous said...

When I was a little boy, my dad
taught me to shoot. Now my wife and myself are going to have a little one in which I am very worried and angry. I own numerous firearms. I love my guns and really love shooting them and "preserving a tradition" my family has had as long as I can go back in my family tree.
Now,Barack Hussein Obama (anti- gun, and a power hungry clueless
individual!) who wants to deprive us of our second amendment rights to keep and bear arms and ban the AR-15 and of course a favorite of mine that I now thankfully own and had to save money for 7+ years time so that I could purchase for my own the "M107 Barrett". We must unite and tell our reps,
congressmen and women, senators,
local govt.and everyone who has a position in our govt. To help us to be able to preserve our rights to own and posess our firearms. The black guns ak-47's, 74's, high capacity mags for our handguns and rifles,I mean for goodness sake
this "dictator" has told people in Va. this, and I quote- (Nobody's going to take your guns) during his campaingn stop in Va. But all he is doing is as my dad says "Buttering Up" what he says and when he gets control as he is in the process of doing!! I mean what's up with the issue about high cap mags? I can take a 10 round mag, or even a 8 round in one of my 1911's and punch a 10 spot out at 15 - 20 yards with each round, what's it going to matter if we have mags over 10 rounds. The honest men and women are the ones who suffer from people like Barack (I'll tell you no wrong) Obama!! It's not honest
true Red White and Blue blooded
Americans that harm and kill with
registered guns!! It's thugs and lowlife's with stolen guns that they buy on the streets every day.
A Ban Of any kind will hurt us (the honest hard-working -Americans) that take pride in the way we were brought up and live. It wont stop gun violence!!! I live in a state where handgun carry permits exist and can be aquired by people with no criminal record and no history of mental illness.And you know what, the crime -violenence rate is down tremendously since the permits were established in the 1990's. The thugs and criminals are afraid to carjack or do criminal acts to people much since these permits were established. I guess really owning a gun and carrying the gun on your person is a dang
good reason for the ownership and posession of a firearm!!!
I've served this country (which I Love Dear), nearly all of my life and this is what we get. I supported John McCain and Sara Palin through this whole election as well as all of my family and friends we all prayed for them to win as I know all smart,informed gun owners did. We're all proud NRA members "WE LOVE OUR HERITAGE"
to own and shoot our guns freely as The second amendment of this great country which was founded on "In GOD WE TRUST" was written.
Now Barack "I don't have to produce my true birth certificate"
Obama who wouldn't even dare to place his hand on the Holy Bible to be sworn into the US senate,(By the way the only person in the history of this great nation not to do so)!! We have a very long 4
years of dictatorship to endure with Mr. (I don't remember where I was born) and Mr.President-elect (I'll take your guns because I can)Obama. May God Be With Us All and
God Bless True Americans!!!

Anonymous said...

Interesting how different things look when the worm has turned. One of the favorite perjoratives right-wing zealots love to hurl at anyone who doesn't adopt their catechism is "crybabies." I'm not a zealot on either end of the political spectrum. I can listen to arguments posed by anyone on any issue without turning purple in the face and resorting to epithets and perjoratives, altho sometimes it's a tad tuff to bite my tongue -- especially when someone with whom I disagree isn't the slightest bit interested in any questioning of their rock hard beliefs. I could quote from that old Commie Yeats -- "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" -- but who would find any comfort in that today?

And who's doing the crying?

Time to suck it up, folks, and put on our fighting faces. Obama won. Boo hoo. He hasn't tried to pry our ARs and Minis from our determined live hands yet. Maybe we can try a little subterfuge of our own. Instead of marginalizing our cause eve more by bragging about the ordnance we have and covet, let's tone down the rhetoric a tad and put our efforts to helping some sympatico Republicans elected to Congress. We have two years. Surely the Kenyan Devil will have other priorities with which to occupy his "honymoon" before then.

It's not too late. The falcon can still hear the falconer; things haven't fallen completely apart quite yet; the center can hold; mere anarchy is not yet loosed upon the world...

Anonymous said...

"Obama won. Boo hoo. He hasn't tried to pry our ARs and Minis from our determined live hands yet."

He's not President YET, though if you read the papers you would think the inauguration all ready happened on Nov. 5th.

I do agree with you on picking our collective ass up off the deck and getting back in the fight.

This country survived Carter and Clinton and Nixon in my lifetime. Get what you need for hard times and move forward.

Ratcatcher 55

Anonymous said...

Fine job with your broadcast, Michael. A perfect mix of passion, humility, reasoning and condolence. Mary's song was fitting and moving, as well. Thanks, bud. You're an inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Yes we have survived other numbnut Presidents. Yes crying isn't going to get us anywhere. Yes he may or may not turn out to be none other than a Chicago pol with no stake in any particular position than "I desire power".

The point that gets my goat is that it's more than BHO. It is the hundreds of left wing loons in the Congress. Its the hundreds of Federal Judical apppointments. It's the several potential SCOTUS appointments. It's the multiple state legislatures that have turned over. This is the baggage that this scoundrel carries with him.

All this can add up to several decades of eroded rights. Some may not be retrievable for a century or so, like a bad SCOTUS decision.

In my youth I thought I would live forever. My horizon was always boundless. My skys were always big and blue. As I have aged I've realized that this is a very short trip we are on. I may not get to see the end game here. That really sucks. I thought that I had a chance to see the America my children would inherit as one of liberty and freedom. Right now the future does not look bright for them. It may be that they will be in their middle years before things get turned back, if then. That is what sucks about this whole thing.

Anonymous said...

Listened to NPR the last couple days to get a feel for the B.S. And it's there. Wed. US callers gloating, bashing GOP. Thrs. international notables gushing how he will fix all the world's ills. I kid you not, they actually think he's the messia. Gonna fix all, heal the sick and lame and raise the dead! Real nut jobs out there. Gonna be disappointed when it don't come true .God helpthe Republic. the mushroom

Anonymous said...

Sorry meant to add this to my prior post...From the President Elects website today.

http://www.change.gov/agenda/urbanpolicy/



Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.

Anonymous said...

Mike. Sage advice about buying Mags. Brownells is out. Many other companies out. I laid mine in the last few years. But, if you are going to buy some. Do it NOW. Put them on backorder to lock in the price.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the person who posted
the post about his dad and the way
he has served this country.
I beleive it was the 6th post.
We've got to get up off of our
buts and watch out. I don't believe
the person was being a "cry baby" and the people who are saying this
should take a good inward look at themselves. This person had a good point about contacting our state reps,congressmen,and anyone by damn
who can keep bans from being established and passed in the house and congress. We still have
enough and I quote from the post
True blooded Red White and Blue
americans who will fight for our rights as gun owners, hunters &
citizens of these United States
of which I have served and fought
for as well! Let's get the crap
stopped by calling people names,
let us join together and try to
stop any bans or as one person said
the kenyon devil's possible attacks
on our 2nd and the right to purchase unaltered ammo as Obama
has tried to pass as a senator in
his home state. God Bless America!!
God Bless Our Service men and women
who are fighting for our country now, and God Bless those that have given the Ultimate Sacrifice for our beloved country. And for those
service men and women who are stil
MIA and never got to come home!
Let's try to ban together as one
and keep the same outlook for our
generations yet to come. TO KEEP
AND BEAR ARMS!

Anonymous said...

MB,

I have been a 2A voter since I turned 18. That means I have mostly voted Republican but have voted for a Democrat a few times.

Support for the 2A is not a good bellweather about how I align with a politicians views. Most of the strong 2A supporters I get to vote for are "abortion is murder, gays shouldn't be allowed to marry, protesters shouldn't be allowed to burn the flag, let's put JESUS back in school with teacher led school prayer" assholes that I wouldn't piss on if their guts were on fire. But I vote for them anyway based on their strong 2A support.

Like you I am a small government conservative who also thinks government should stay the hell out of people's lives. Sadly the Democrats are mostly big government socialists and Republican's are dominated by the evangelicals who want to stick their noses into everyone's business.

No wonder the country is going to hell.

Anonymous said...

On ABC's "Nightline" tonight (Friday 11/7/'08), they're going to talk about the sales surge in guns, especially "black" ones. On the nightly news at 6:30 P. M., they showed some gun stores and ranges and talked about the "unfounded" fear that some are spreading (While they had an NRA poster in the background!)that b-HO is about to take our guns. They said (spun?)that he just believes in "resonable restrictions". So, can anyone define "resonabale restrictions" better than b-HO's record? I think not. To him, having a locked gun is OK, but at the time that it's unlocked, you become a felon. Or, as they just did in Quebec, you can own your guns, but they must be kept at your registered/licensed "club" and you can check them out and back in if you want to hunt AND, the club must keep track of all this and report back to the "blackshirts", as if any club can afford that bureaucracy.
A shop owner said that a funny thing has been happening. He said that guys are coming in wearing "Obama" buttons and buying "assault rifles" because they fear that he's going to ban them. Then, ABC confirmed that he will.
Life member

Anonymous said...

I wish there were some other way to ID ourselves on here without registering (I hate to register for anything). Then it would be easier to respond to a particular poster without resorting to wordy descriptions, such as, the poster who has been a 2A voter since he turned 18 (post number 15, actually), whose post resonated pleasingly with me. In fact, I think I might have written it last night myself when I got up to pee and wasn't fully awake. I would disagree only that in the rare election I will vote for a candidate whose respect for 2A isn't firmly established to my satisfaction. But that's only if I consider that his or her opponent is such a frightening boob that no matter what he or she says about his or her commitment to protecting our 2A rights, I would have little confidence that he or she could in fact act effectively to protect them. I've gotten into an amusing peeing contest over on one of Dean Speir's fora with some lock-step drones for whom such thinking gives them the vapors. Folks, of course we need to stick to our principles, but we need to fight smart, as Michael points out in his radio address. Sometimes you can gain more ground with a draw or trap play than by merely crashing into the line. First impressions are not always what they seem.

I go by Clark Kent on some shooting fora.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous @7:00 (Clark Kent)...choose the Name/URL option when you post and just enter your a name. Be consistent with that name and we will know who you are...sorta..

DonWorsham

Anonymous said...

Gotcha, Don. Here goes...

Anonymous said...

Per LifeMember here is the link to the full ABC Nightline report on gun sales...

http://abcnews.go.com/nightline