What started as a response to question by a commenter on a blog turned into something too big to post as a comment. I decided to combine some of my other thoughts closely related to the question.

The question was “I want all the people who voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004 to tell me what it was about Bush that made you feel he would make a good president.”

For the 2 times I voted for Bush, he was the lesser of the two evils. Although I voted for Clinton for his 2nd term, I was done with his whole administration by the time 2000 rolled around. There was just way too much baggage that I was not trying to extend in any way even if it was his vice-president.

My convictions

For me, there are two issues that I will not compromise: abortion and the creation of laws/policies that equate homosexuality to that of race (before some of you knee-jerk here, click here for my full explanation.) That is where I start. Some may call this ‘limited’, but I call it conviction. What others use as conviction is up to them. However, I do find it a contradiction for someone who claims to be a bible-believing Christian and vote for a candidate REGARDLESS OF PARTY AFFILIATION that supports actions that are clearly identified in scripture as wrong. This alone typically eliminates Democrats on the state/federal level most of the time although I am fully aware of some Democrats out there on the local level that are doing a great job in their communities. As long as they are working against the status quo (eliminating debt, tough on crime, pro-small business), they will always have my support and vote (if I ever live in such a district). I hold candidates on the state/federal level to a much higher standard because they have the power to write or change the laws that affect the issues I just mentioned.

Hitting my wallet

Financial accountability and responsibility are issues that are very important to me. Our earnings in the past couple of years has placed our family in the category where when we have a good month, based on the size of our paychecks we are taxed at the 33% rate. There is nothing more depressing than seeing pay that we worked very hard to earn get cut in half by both the state and federal government while living in a state where the schools are crap, crime is still high, poverty continues to climb due largely in part to how we import it south of the border and some of the most ‘progressive’ cities are home to thousands of homeless people. My family and I have been through welfare and have worked very hard to get where we are today. I spent more than half of my life working in the non-profit sector helping kids, prison inmates and young adults and according to Democrats, the 33% that is taken out of my paychecks is not enough. Neither Obama or Clinton give me hope that what grew under Bush will somehow be reduced under them.

War

I was totally on board with the current war in Iraq/Afghanistan until Bush decided to subject our young fighting men and women to the whims of D.C. politics. Fortunately the latest surge is working. I’ll leave it at that for the sake of space.

In short, Bush was TALKING about cutting the federal budget and not expanding it with endless programs –something that Democrats love to do. I, like many folks bought into his promise. I also liked the fact that public schools were going to be held to some account or loose funding (again, Democrats just wanted to dump more money into schools districts that had been failing for years with no performance requirement). Although this initiative was something that was needed, it did not take long to start hearing the stories of teachers teaching tests in order to insure a passing average that continued their funding. Nevermind the poor reading levels of high school students just in my state alone of California.

In the end, Bush has been very disappointing to say the least for conservatives like myself. He did an almost 180 on his commitment to trim the budget and to bring accountability back to the federal government. Instead, he grew the national deficit by spending like it was no tomorrow. Despite all of this, I still believe that he was the better man for the job next to Kerry or Gore.

How do you factor in Black issues?

#Affirmative Action

No matter who is in the White house, the Black community is in no danger of returning to the days of Jim Crow or slavery. While folks like Ward Connerly regularly get hammered for his effort to put an end to many of the existing affirmative action policies, what his critics conveniently forget is that voters in several states INCLUDING THE VERY DEMOCRATIC STATE OF CALIFORNIA were given the opportunity to give an up or down vote. So far, the voters of California, Michigan and the state of Washington have voted to put an end to much of this policy. So if you want to get mad, get mad at the voters in these states. But again, like anything else, it is way easier to demonize an individual.

#Civil Rights

Civil rights? Again, I do not live under the belief that the civil rights of any U.S. citizen on racial grounds is in no immediate danger. Where the system is slow to respond to a violation to one’s civil rights, the public has a long history of knowing just how to remind elected officials who really is in charge. Black churches were burned under Clinton and nooses were found under Bush. Young Black men have been killing each other under both. So to tie negative Black trends under one particular party is baseless and ridiculous .

#Black men in prison issue

As I pointed out in several posts, it was Democrats who initially pushed for tougher sentences against Black men for political reasons. Republicans on the other hand did not do enough with the time they had control of both the House and Senate to reverse this bad policy. No matter who is in the White House, unless we as Black folks are willing to fully engage in solutions to reverse this trend, Black men in prison will be a normal sight for years to come. With all the existing government programs out there to help our young men choose a different path, the proof is overwhelming that government alone cannot reverse this trend.

#Africa

Is Africa really a Black American issue? I mean, really.

#Poverty

I’ll make this one quick since I have discussed this issue many, MANY times already on this site. The ‘war on poverty’ is nothing more than a trojan horse government uses to expand itself. Family structure plays a huge role in financial stability. Jobs being sent overseas could also be a factor, however, having two income earners in the household greatly increases a family’s chances of getting out of poverty. Again, there is nothing government can do in that department.

#Education

Public schools that are under-performing and have a long record of doing so should be shut down–PERIOD! Teacher unions that have a record of keeping bad teachers for the sake of maintaining a large headcount should be penalized. Also, schools should not be in the business of providing day care or feeding program for those listed in poverty. These are not school functions and should be handled by other government/non-government organizations. How many candidates out there would be willing to take this type of stance?

Not voting is a cop out

Allow me to repost a comment I made to a reader who said this same thing to me not too long ago.

“Since starting this site a little over 3 years ago, I have been contacted by folks within local government, state government, a few folks within the House and Senate and one person who was a former member of President Bush’s cabinet–many of them wanting me to either weigh in on something they are doing of to gain my support. This comes from both sides of the aisle, mind you. According to a very good friend of mine who spent a considerable amount of time within some political circles in Washington, this site was/is mentioned quite often. I did not believe her at first until I got the e-mail from politico.com to do an interview. Personally, I do not make a big deal about it nor do I barely mention that stuff on this site. But I think it is necessary for me to bring that up for this conversation. As you touched on in your comment, part of democracy is having influence. Somehow, this site has gained a little bit of that amongst some folks out there who are our elected officials. I also mention all of this to demonstrate to you that your comparison to me with a ‘ghetto street corner’ mindset is very much off-base.

I will tell you upfront that up to a couple of years ago, I used to think just as you regarding voting. I, too made similar assessments that folks who chose not to vote were somehow ‘copping-out’. I also used to kick the line about how our ancestors made great sacrifices for us to vote. While that may be very true, the bigger picture behind their sacrifices was so that I could have the RIGHT to vote. The problem then was that we had no voice in the political process. No lobbyists, senators, congressmen–nobody. Sure we had our own media, but that was the equivalent of preaching to the choir. Today we have access to so many tools and resources to make our voices heard , it should almost be considered a crime if we do not use it. Blogging is one of them.”…Having the ability to remind elected officials that all the power does not lie with them is the greatest contribution I can give to democracy.”

Because I have grown tired of this trend of voting for the lesser of the two evils, I have decided to hold my vote until the next election. IMO, McCain would take the Bush legacy to another level (and that’s not a good thing). On the two issues I mentioned earlier (abortion and homosexuality) he has already developed a flip-flopped record on both. Even if McCain was consistent on these issues, I would still not give him my vote. Beyond that, his record also reflects that he is not committed to many of the core values of the conservative movement (securing our borders, curbing spending, etc.). As far as Obama/Clinton goes, based on their record, all they would do is simply rearrange the furniture.

Am I looking for the perfect candidate? Of course not. With every candidate I have voted for in the past and present, I had to compromise on certain policy positions. What I find disturbing is that with every election cycle I am finding myself moving closer and closer to the 75% off rack. At some point, one has to draw the line. But as I mentioned earlier, ’store management’ is and will continue to hear my voice on these issues well beyond a vote.

For the first (or maybe second time) in the history of this site, I am disabling comments for this post. I am doing this because some of the content in this post can easily be taken out of context by folks who not interested in hearing the entire point. If you really would like to comment on this post, the ‘contact’ link above works just fine. Who knows? I may post some of the comments here.