6-9-08: Does McCain Really Need to Pretend to be a Conservative?

There seems to be a lot of talk this campaign about how conservatives need to go. Others think new conservatives need to come in and keep the agenda going. John McCain is talking about how his change is better than Obama's, and that liberals are the devil and whatnot.

I'm more concerned with conservatism. It's primarily because I consider myself a conservative. But… I'm not what I'd consider a stereotypical conservative. I'm not a "Bible-thumper" or a gun-toter or what have you. I'm more of a fiscal conservative. I couldn't really care less about gay marriage or abortion. If you want to write a law telling people who you'll likely never come into contact with how they should live their lives, it just doesn't seem very Christian to me. I'll pass on that.

So what is a conservative, then? To me, it's some one who believes in the principles of a small government, a disciplined economic policy that stresses the importance of free markets, strong states' rights, and a (basically) non-interventionist foreign policy based on aid and diplomacy. I think a lot of people get too caught up on the social side of conservatism. That's where all the passion is, and so goes the attention. Few people really talk about the other issues (probably because they aren't good news stories).

I do not think John McCain is a conservative, at least not in my eyes. His energy policies are moderate at best. His economic policies are relatively decent, especially with his stress on low taxes. Overall, he's an OK politician. He's not conservative, but him being a moderate isn't the end of the world. But, for whatever reason, he keeps on plugging away at voters, trying to convince people he is a conservative. I don't think he'll keep this up, seeing as even as a moderate he's further to the right than Obama is. I think McCain can get more done simply because he's less radical. Why not stress that? Isn't that what really matters?