A Plea To Genuine Conservatives

Darlings, Pretty Lady has a heartfelt favor to ask.

That is, if you cannot bring yourself to vote for Mr. Obama in this election, due to your rock-bottom conservative principles of limited government, individual freedom, and civil liberties, that you vote for a third-party candidate. Barr, Hagel, Nader, that Green party lady, a write-in for Ron Paul. It doesn't matter.

As you all know, Pretty Lady herself is an Obamaphile all the way. It is no use arguing with her about that. She will turn a deaf ear to all your blandishments, finger-pointing and cries of "Socialism!" She sees in Mr. Obama a calm, graceful, intelligent leader with a grasp of the big picture, genuine pragmatism, and the ability to deliberate with integrity and diplomacy. And for those of you who point to his unregenerate liberalism, she responds that at least the gentleman sticks to his principles.

Mr. McCain, on the other hand, has shown no adherence to principle whatsoever, except to the principle of "Self at All Costs." He goes around threatening to start random wars, despite the fact that both the economy and the military are stretched beyond their limits. He has shown no respect for principles of true conservatism, or consistent, deliberative leadership that adheres to reality.

And he has shown himself unfit to be commander-in-chief by selecting Mrs. Palin to replace him, in the unfortunate event that he should be incapacitated. Kathleen Parker has expressed this more eloquently than Pretty Lady ever could.

As Ross Douhat points out, a landslide McCain loss could be the impetus for the Republican party to reorganize itself on genuine conservative principles, as espoused by Ron Paul. If you vote for a third-party candidate who espouses these principles, you are boosting the probability that this eventuality occurs.

For Pretty Lady, truthfully, is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, and the polarization of debate into Democrat and Republican bashing makes her nauseated. She is a strong advocate of liberal principles, such as compassion, tolerance, community service and social awareness, implemented honestly, efficiently and pragmatically. She is also a strong advocate of conservative principles, such as individual freedom, civil liberties, personal responsibility, fiscal restraint and strong families, implemented honestly, wisely and compassionately. She does not see that these principles are in any way mutually exclusive. It is all in the willingness to think, communicate and learn, rather than blindly adhering to the narrow ideologies of Ego in the face of Reality.

Thus, she supports Mr. Obama, who is both liberal and pragmatic. She would dearly love to see a loyal opposition which was both conservative and pragmatic, to temper him. A national debate consisting of genuinely principled parties, willing to honestly engage on genuine issues, could produce miracles we cannot now imagine.

But a national debate consisting of the sorts of random demagoguery and blind ignorance we have seen in the last month, emanating from the McCain/Palin campaign, can only produce national disaster. Please, if you have any sense or conscience at all, reject this travesty.