Holding my nose and voting Republican

Holding my nose and voting Republican By Linda Chavez Wednesday, October 25, 2006

I am not happy with the Republican Party, but on Nov. 7 I will cast my vote for my incumbent Republican congressman and senator nonetheless. I don't feel I have any choice -- and it's not just that the Democrats running in my state are particularly unappealing candidates.

I'm angry at Republicans for abandoning their principles. This Republican president, aided and abetted by Congress, has increased federal spending at a reckless rate, even when the costs of the war in Iraq are taken out of the equation. I'm embarrassed by the scandals that have plagued some Republicans and by the abject failure of the leadership to do anything meaningful on lobbying reform.

I'm sickened by the cronyism that protected former Congressman Mark Foley and put children at risk. I'm disappointed that after years of claiming to be the party of colorblind equal opportunity, Republicans have actually expanded racial preferences in federal programs. I'm disheartened by the demagoguery on immigration and the refusal to do the one thing guaranteed to stop illegal immigration, namely, enact a broad guest worker program.

But none of these issues will make me stay home, much less vote Democratic. The fact is I don't trust the Democratic Party to lead this country in a time of uncertainty and war. While the Democrats say they want to refocus the nation's energy on the war on terror, they've demonstrated time and again that they oppose the most effective means of fighting terrorism.

Democrats would interfere with the National Security Agency's ability to intercept communications between terrorists abroad and their agents in the United States. They would extend to terrorists being held overseas access to the U.S. civilian court system, which could jeopardize national security by making classified intelligence available to the terrorists and their attorneys. They would treat terrorists like common criminals rather than as combatants who are at war with us.

Nor do I trust that Democrats would do the right thing in Iraq -- not that the current administration has had a stellar record there, either. I'm tired of debating whether we should or should not have gone into Iraq -- both Republicans and half the Democrats in the Senate voted to authorize the war in 2003. The question is what the United States should do now. It's clear the war is going very badly and that Iraq is on the verge of a civil war. Democrats have offered no clear plan except to leave Iraq as quickly as possible, regardless of the consequences.

And I don't think the Democrats would back tough measures if Iran and North Korea continue to pursue nuclear weapons either. Certainly the Clinton administration's record with respect to North Korea doesn't inspire confidence. Democrats like carrots a lot better than sticks and are more concerned with "world opinion" than American interests.

Democratic control of Congress also worries me when it comes to the economy. Democrats always want to raise taxes in order to pay for social programs, transferring money out of the hands of ordinary people and turning it over to bureaucrats. Most Democrats are also infatuated with government regulation and rarely find a government directive they don't like. Higher taxes and more regulations are a recipe to cool our healthy economy. Democrats seem to want to punish businesses rather than encourage the creation of more wealth. And they have a nasty propensity to encourage envy and class warfare, which benefits no one.

Politics is sometimes about making the least bad choice. I know some of my fellow Republicans will stay home on Election Day, hoping to send the party a message that they're fed up with the current leadership. But putting the Democrats in control won't bring about needed changes -- it will make matters even worse. The place for revolt is within the party itself, by urging the elected representatives to pick carefully when they choose House and Senate leadership in January and by challenging incumbents in primaries next time if they don't stand up for basic Republican principles.

Linda Chavez is chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity and author of Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics .

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"I must ask- your assertion that there is no immigrant problem in Europe gave me pause. I spent three years in Germany and one of the biggest complaints I heard from German and French citizens was about the "immigrant problem". There was a lot of hard feeling for the Arab and Polish immigrants whose numbers grow by the day...were they just pulling everyone's leg?"

When I said we, I didn´t mean Europeans, thank God the Unification of Europe has not come to that, I of course ment we, Icelanders. But when the Brussel powers have succesfully destroyed our national identities, then maybe people will say we-Europeans, lets hope it will never come to that (or has it allready?), because the very nature of a unified Europe is Anti-Americanism

I meant, that here in Iceland there are not illegal immigrants. Maybe it is blue-eyed of me to assume there are none, now that we are part of the Schengen (open borders within Europe) agreement, but I just can´t see that it is possible to live here for any time without an ID number, and you will not get that except having permission.

But you are right, in Europe there is a considerable immigration problem, specially as there has be no demand for the immigrants to assimilate. And unlike here in Iceland, they have not even be expected to work for a living, wich has increased their isolation.

The US is of course an immigration country and it has been assimilating foreigners from the day it was birthed, it knows how to do it properly, the European countries need to learn from the US about that. Other thing is that the biggest share of your immigrants, the hispanics, are from a rather compatible culture to yours, they are cristians, speak a western language and have western cultural background.

The biggest portion of European immigrants (whew, I nearly said ours) is on the other hand from a rather different culture than ours. That and the post-christian culture in Europe, socialism and elitism is a deadly mixture.

In Iceland, you can´t emigrate except if you get work, we have very few muslim immigrants, as our immigration did not pick up until after the fall of the Berlin Wall, so most of them are from Poland and East Europe. We have also made it harder for people to get here on the basis of families, wich has been the biggest contributor to the huge immigration numbers in Europe.

We have been considering a guest worker program, but I doupt it will happen. But we are beginning to be more picky of who can get here and who not, opening up more for people from Europe, but all but closing off for other parts of the world.

I understand the neccasity to make all immigration legal, but it seems to me it is something like trying to keep the lid on a top of a boiling pot, if the immigration laws are to strict, specially as it seems to be so easy to go to the US legally.

But the US is the third most populous nation of the world, and the only western nation to be growing naturally. You are economically the strongest, and you also, have enough room geographically for a lot more people. Following immigration is always change, and I would understand that people are afraid of that, but more people will make the US stronger, just as everyone is afraid of the strenght of China and India, there is no end in the strength of the US if they will continue to grow.

I am not sure if a guest workers program is the right thing for you or not, but at least, if you are going to try to do something to seal the southern borders, you will have to do something to led the steam out, unless the pot will blow.

Wouldn't it nice someday if Republicans would hold their noss and vote libertarian?

Lew Rockwell libertarian? Don't think so... or were you talking about the Libertarians that like to hold their meetings at nudist camps?

CindySheehan Internet porn Lew Rockwell Affair Divorse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723982/posts

Libertarians stopped from holding event at nudist camp

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662514/posts

Constitutional Party is my choise of Third Party instead...

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