MASON CONSERVATIVE

I'm Voting For Gary Johnson

There, I said it.

I've been thinking about it awhile, I took into consideration that this might let some of my friends down.  This isn't something that I just decided because I'm mad about how the Libya situation went down.  I was energized in 2010 with the Tea Party's rise and the return to constitutional conservatism and true limited government.  Two years later we have continued to nominate good candidates down ballot, but for some reason we cannot get this presidential thing right.  I think Mitt Romney is a good and genuine man, but I believe he will be a complete disaster for conservatism as president, just as he is proving to be as a candidate.  I've never trusted him to begin with on every issue from spending to abortion.  He wants to be president so badly, it unnerving.

I was orginally going to keep this private but I thought that would be disingenious and dishonest.  But please, don't take this as some pathetic woe-is-me story where the GOP has left me,yadda yadda yadda.  Something I've learned over the last few years is that we shouldn't be beholden to parties, they should be beholden to us.  Just because you vote one way one election, your vote in the next should never be assumed or taken for granted.  I also don't fall for the canard that voting third party is a vote for Obama.  This is a free country, we should be allowed to express ourselves politically in whatever form we want.  The lesser of two evils is still two evils.  I still believe in many of the Tea Party candidates, I still am a strong supporter of AG Cuccinelli, and I look forward to doing my little part in pushing the party toward the libertarian/constitutional conservative side, and part of that is refusing to vote for terrible candidates who I don't believe in.

Politics has become about the parties.  What I love about the Tea Party is that they have put forth strong candidates, individuals who care more about their principles rather than loyalty to the party.  The entire goal these days seems to be to frame every issue to the next election.  We have gridlock not because the parties split Congrss, but rather because political leadership in this country is focused solely on the acquisition of power in a way that we have never seen before.  It is harder and harder for individual congressmen and senators to stand up on their own without the money that flows through the political parties.  Its why I believe Citizens United was a great decision, it took money out of the parties and lets it flow openly.  

For the record, the breaking point did not come from Romney, but rather from Reince Preibus:

"Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt. Sad and pathetic."

That was disgusting.

Why Is Diplomacy So Disrespected?

There were a lot of things that made me mad about Mitt Romney's conduct today regarding the tragedy in Egypt and Libya, but specifically Lybia.  I've calmed down a bit but I still believe he's crossed a dangerous line where he is now attempting to prevent the President from being the president in the face of the world.  Its this kind of "fire from the rear" that caused Obama to lean into Putin and talk about flexibility in a second term.  I think Romney is making a terrible mistake, especially when this escalated to include the death of an Ambassador, is attacking so ferociously Obama in the face of an international crisis, questioning his leadership at a time where he is trying to lead facing the rest of the world.  Obama's foreign policy has been a mish-mash of trying to have his cake and eat it too while he tries to reconcile his Noble peace prize image with the need to fight terrorism.  Out of that came his hemming-hawing on intervening directly or indirectly in the "Arab Spring."  He's living off of killing bin Laden and the rest is frankly a mess.

On a deeper level, there is a growing disregard for diplomacy in our political culture.  I am admittedly biased because I grew up in the foreign service world, which is also why I am so aghast at why Romney continues to attack even after an ambassador was killed.  Yet it seems that the political culture right now is that diplomacy = weakness, that the harder we flex our muscles the stronger we are.  We have taken the Reagan mantra of "peace through strength" and just shortened it to " . . . strength."  To me, the great foreign policy presidents of the 20th century where Eisenhower and Reagan because they did everything in their power to keep us out of wars.  There is nothing more fundamental to peace than having a line of communication, and that is the heart of what our diplomacy is.  Yet we are seemingly unwilling to follow that course, instead we use our army and navy and air force as our diplomats - or last threaten it more.  Maybe in the death of Ambassador Stevens, we can at least better understand the missions that our embassies are entrusted with.

The Most Sensible Statement On Syria

It is tragic when Americans serving their country are murdered, and we both mourn their loss and honor their service.

Part of honoring that service is to ask the obvious question: What U.S. interest is being served by putting our people – and our money – in places where U.S. personnel can be killed by extremists over a video? We launched millions of dollars worth of missiles to bring down Gaddafi, and this is what we get. We hail and encourage the outbreak of an Arab Spring in Egypt, send them billions of dollars we can’t afford, — and our embassy is breached and our flag desecrated.

In Afghanistan, we continue to put our troops in harm’s way 10 years after our post-9/11 mission was complete. Why?

The airwaves are filled today with political chest-pounding and calls for decisive action. The most decisive and prudent action we can take today is to stop trying to manage governments and peoples on the other side of the globe who don’t want to be managed, get our people out of impossible situations that have no direct U.S. interest, and immediately stop sending money to regimes who clearly cannot or will not control their own countries.

Protecting America with a strong national defense and a rational foreign policy is our leaders’ most basic responsibility. But let us not confuse national security with senseless intervention where our interests are clearly not being served.    

                                                                -Gov. Gary Johnson

Of course, since he hasn't bought an R or D next to his name, its probably rubbish right?

Correction

Let it be known that bloggers will correct themselves.  

I put a post up that Jim Gilmore was endorsing John Frey and I was made aware that that is not true, he just agreed to show up at his event because he had supported him in 2008.  Just wanted to make sure I got that straight.

Jeannemarie Davis Announces LG Run on 9/11

Update:

From the candidate herself:

Davis said the timing of its release is a reminder of the need for public engagement in democracy.

"By not participating, often times we find ourselves caught off guard and these horrible events can be repeated," she said when reached by phone.

Yeah . . . not so much

Original Post:

Why?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jeannemarie Davis <jeannemarie@jeannemarie4lg.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 10:01 AM
Subject: please give me your views at www.jeannemarie4LG.com
To: xxxxxxx 

As we remember those fallen Americans from 11 years ago, please encourage everyone to participate in our great Democracy.
I would appreciate it if you would take a minute to go to www.jeannemarie4LG.com and give me your feedback on a survey as I begin my tour of the Commonwealth.  Please provide information on any ways that the Obama Administration has hurt you or your community, so that I can better tell the story of why it is so important that Virginians replace President Obama and his Democratic Senate.  Also, please email back to let me know if you would like to be invited to events in your area, or if you would like me to attend any events.
Jeannemarie Davis
(540) 491-xxxx
jeannemarie@jeannemarie4LG.com
www.jeannemarie4LG.com