The Field

It's been a while since I wrote a political article. As I no longer vote, watch the news, or have any faith left in my former party, this is unsurprising. Still, Facebook's news feed, the news playing as I smoke cigars at Just For Him, and discussions with friends keep me relatively up-to-date. Today, as Mitt Romney drops out of the race, I do have some interest in which direction the GOP will be going. Romney was the last candidate I supported before I stopped all involvement with politics. His withdrawal from the Presidential race got me thinking about what I'd prefer to see going forward. After all, I still am very aware of what I believe and am capable of articulating it well. The through-line is individual rights, although tempered with consideration for the balance of rights and interests. No candidate comes within shouting distance of matching my beliefs, but I can still prioritize them and say who would do the best job of representing them.

Rand Paul is who I would like to see get the nomination. Essentially, he's a somewhat socially conservative libertarian. Among the most pro-life politicians in the game, his abortion stance is the first place we lock horns. Like many Republicans, he believes that life begins at conception and that stem cell research, which uses blastocysts, is murder. By attaching inherent higher moral consideration to humans based simply on their being human, rather than based upon their capacity to suffer, he reaches a false moral conclusion. On gay marriage and marihuana legalization, he's more reasonable, simply believing in these issues being decided by the states. Foreign policy and privacy issues are where we differ the most, with him favoring an isolationist stance on the former and being obsessed, as are most libertarians, with protecting it from encroachment on the latter. That's a lot to disagree with a guy on, and not enough to get me voting, but he's still the best one.

Everybody else's liabilities make Paul's look like a mere bad taste in neckties. Jeb Bush has the last name Bush and I'm a bit confused why a man with such a reputation for being smart thinks we will ever elect another man with that name. Mike Huckabee is a nice guy, but far too socially conservative for me to ever approve of him. Marco Rubio is someone I like quite a bit, but he had the opportunity to do great things with immigration policy and turned it into a tremendous political liability. Ted Cruz is far too terrifying to the general electorate to ever become President. Chris Christie will never get the nomination because he helped Obama get a second term during Hurricane Sandy. Ben Carson can't get the nomination because he's too inexperienced and has no name recognition. Sarah Palin is an unelectable buffoon. Rick Perry is Sarah Palin in drag. Donald Trump isn't actually going to run for President and I can't believe we're falling for it again. So I have Rand Paul as my only hope for at least SOME progress in the GOP.

-Frank