Tough decision when there's no choices

The interesting thing about sitting down at the computer to write blogs is that one never knows where it may wind up. Often I am thinking one thing, preparing to go a particular direction, but instead gray matter intervenes and we wind up going elsewhere. In backpacking (much like being an amateur photographer, I am also an amateur outdoorsman) that is called bushwhacking--kind of a fancy term, don't you think? When writing, on the other hand, that's often known as wasting everyone's time. So I will make every effort to keep to the marked trail.

Today's topic, boys and girls, is the upcoming presidential election. Be careful, won't you!? Only fools talk religion and politics! Well, then, I declare myself a fool twice over. Now, just right up front, I must declare myself as a die-hard conservative Republican. I'm dang near a Whig. My belief in government is easily stated--leave me alone, take as little of my money as possible, whack the bad guys, carry a big enough stick that the the creeps stay on their side of the pond, and keep your hands out of those places where they don't belong. For the first time since I've been of voting age, I'm looking at the distinct possibility of not voting for president this go round. Frankly, I'd rather take a cattle prod to the gibblies than pull the arm for either Billary or Osbama. Billary is in favor of national health care, which seems like a pleasant concept on its surface. Stick your head under the water, though, and you come to realize the undertow could sweep you out to sea and drown you. The Canadians are paying $100 billion for national health care, which violates rule #2, and you pretty much just have to hope your needed work will get done unless you have blood spurting. Elective surgeries are seldom elected. The Leaf says No. As far as Osbama, he seems pleasant enough, other than the fact that he was raised in a Muslim school and he's done absolutely nothing that would warrant Presidential consideration. Tonight I listened to about 5 minutes of the Sean Hannity radio program, and as part of his schtick he had gone out and asked Democrat voters to name one thing Osbama has ever accomplished. The vast majority said, "I can't think of any, I just like him." Those who had an answer came up with this distinguished list of accomplishments: he's black, he gives good speeches, and he's a Senator. Hmmm...that doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he can lead this country. I'd say he's fully qualified to be the mayor of something.

So that leaves me to vote for a Republican. Now, just a few weeks ago I was pretty fired up about Mike Huckabee. I mean, here's a guy who truly loves the Lord, bases his every decision on that faith, and is the strongest proponent of a fair tax. The primaries aren't going well for Mike, however, and I expect him to drop out pretty quick rather than continue to throw money out the jump door. Grandpa Ron will probably stay in the race because he's just crazy enough to keep going until someone makes him crawl back under whatever rock used to be his home. He's cute--here is a guy with a passionate following (all three percent of them) who had absolutely no chance of ever getting elected. But he keeps standing up there getting ignored, bellowing out his barbaric yalp. He's like the special needs student who stays up on stage and keeps singing even though the entire class exited stage right, and he keeps right on going until someone mercifully takes him by the hand and drags him away. And so that leaves us with John McCain as likely our only choice. I've been talking about politics, and here comes the part about religion--see, truly a double fool! As a discerning Christian, it is evident to me that John McCain does not believe in God. If you'd like me to cite the evidence I could go down that rabbit trail, but being that I'm the one doing the typing, I'll not do that just now. People keep citing McCain as a war hero, and I am uncomfortable with that tag in his case. He had the misfortune of being shot down early in the Vietnam War, and he had the incredible intestinal fortitude to stay alive as a POW for seven years. Even with that resume, I do not place the hero tag lightly. Just recently I read the book Sole Survivor, written by Marcus Luttrell. Luttrell is a Navy Seal, and he was part of a four-man team who was dropped in the middle of Nowhere, Afghanistan, to keep an eye on one of Osama bin Laden's henchmen. I would highly recommend this book--it gives a great explanation of why Luttrell does not believe we can win this war, and he is a soldier very loyal to the country and the President. His theory has a lot to do with the soldier who was just convicted of murder earlier this week--the guy was a sniper in an exposed position. A friggin' goatherder walked up on him, and the guy was faced with an immediate decision--make the proper military decision and eliminate the unarmed threat and therefore face almost certain criminal charges, or allow him to leave knowing full well he will send the bad guys your way virtually immediately. You can't win a war--because lots of people die in wars, particularly when the enemy looks and dresses exactly like the innocent--if you're afraid to kill people because they might not have an AK-47 or an IED under that robe...or maybe they do, and instead of appearing before a military tribunal, you get to go home in a rubber bodybag. Anyway, back to Luttrell. His team was attacked by an enemy force of over 140 men, heavily armed and well trained, and Luttrell was the only one to make it out alive. And even that was only after a week of incredible hardship and danger. The hero part comes in here--Seal Team 4 was commanded by Lt. Michael Murphy. After being seriously wounded three or four times, being blown down cliff faces three times, and fighting until he was almost completely out of ammunition, Lt. Murphy walked out to a fully exposed spot because he knew that only a cell phone call back to the base would give any of his team a chance to survive. He sat on a rock in the middle of a clearing and completed his call, and while out there he was shot again in the head, severe enough that part of his skull was misplaced and his head took on a misshapen appearance. Even that did not kill him, and he managed to scramble back to his team to continue the fight. Eventually, though, his body did succumb to its injuries, and he gave his life for his country, as did two more men on the team. Luttrell survived largely due to the phone call that Murphy made. Michael Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Folks, that is a hero. I just don't think McCain's accomplishment as a survivor, heinous though it was in the Hanoi Hilton, is in that same vein.

To vote or not to vote. If I vote for someone, I have the right to complain. If I don't, I can blame everyone. What to do, what to do...