Bigotry

Since the voters of California voted for Proposition 8, which restored the definition of Marriage that the Courts decided to unilaterally change, thousands of gay activists and its sympathizers have led the most hypocritical, bigoted and aggressive protest this country has seen in decades.

These activists have targeted the LDS Church as the root of all evil. In their minds, Prop 8 was passed because Mormons orchestrated the effort and poured millions of dollars into it. While that might be true, LDS members are a clear minority among California voters, and many other demographic groups helped pass Prop 8, including many key Democratic constituencies (blacks, hispanics...). However, the protesters, bigoted as they are, have mainly attacked Latter-Day-Saints.

And we're not talking only about demonstrations in front of temples, wards and stakehouses. Protesters have also showed up in front of people's homes, have defaced private property and have intimidated many families. In fact, these gay activists have posted the names and addresses of folks who gave support to Prop 8 on the Internet, causing an unprecedented wave of intimidation. Certain individuals have even lost their jobs because "their views were not tolerant enough". And there has been a push to boycott LDS and Utah businesses.

These outbursts clearly show the aggressiveness, hypocrisy and intolerance of many in the gay rights movement, who are willing to target good people and families who happen not to agree with them. I wonder what would have happen if religious people intimidated gays in such a fashion... Talk about a double standard.

Election Results Analysis

The election has been quite dull, with no surprises or extreme results. As predicted, Obama has won with a nice amount of electoral votes, but McCain has stood his ground, and popular vote totals have been much closer. The landslide Obama supporters were hoping for clearly has not happened, and the country has simply rejected the failed neoconservative interventionist policies of the last 8 years by voting the other party. So, folks, nothing out of the ordinary.

These results certainly discredit the voices that were saying that America would be entering a drastically new era, or that the country was now a center-left nation. Neither of those statements make any sense. In fact, we have not seen a decrease in conservatism in this election, what we have seen is a decrease in the Republican vote. In liberal California, for example, proposition 8, which restored the definition of marriage after activist judges in San Francisco decided to change it unilaterally, has passed and gay marriage is now illegal in the state of California. Doesn't sound much like a liberal win, does it? And let us not forget that Barack Obama ran a campaign as a centrist, as a man that could fix the economy, as a tax-cutter, and even as a pro-lifer. So to all those who are bursting out in tears and excitement in Chicago, get a grip folks, this is far from being a leftist victory.

Let's compare the actual results with my earlier post, in which I stated my goals and hopes for the election:

Presidential Election
1. Barack Obama wins only a narrow election, no landslides. TRUE. Obama won a few battleground states like IN, CO, NM or FL (a few of them with extremely close margins); but did not manage to drastically change the electoral map (MO, ND, MT, GA... they all stuck with the Republicans).
2. "The West, the South and the Great Plains remain mostly red". TRUE. The electoral map has not changed significantly in those regions.
3. Conservative alternatives (Barr, Baldwin and Keyes) get at least 1.5% combined. DOUBT IT. Until we change the electoral system, third parties will unfortunatley remain marginal. However, it is worth noting that if you give Barr's votes to McCain, most battleground states would've gone red.
4. "In California, Republicans manage to hold in OC, San Diego, the Inland Empire and the Central Valley". PARTLY TRUE: Republicans have comfortabily won in Orange County and in much of the Central Valley and are almost tied in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. San Diego, however, has gone for Obama.

Congressional Election
1. "Republicans manage to gain seats, keeping Obama in check". NOPE: The Dems have made some gains in both houses, yet it seems that they won't manage to have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
2. "The following congressmen get elected":
- Ron Paul (R-TX). WIN
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ). WIN
- Sydney Hay (R-AZ). LOSS
- Tom McClintock (R-CA). WIN (extremely close race though)
- Dana Rohbracher (R-CA). WIN
- John Cambell (R-CA). WIN
- Ken Calvert (R-CA). WIN
- Gary Miller (R-CA). WIN
- Ed Royce (R-CA). WIN

8/9 --> not too shabby!

3. "John Sununu gets elected". NOPE: Unfortunately New Hampshire voters were too involved in the presidential race to realize John Sununu has been an excellent senator. I guess that's the problem when you allow simultaneous elections, there's thousands of people who don't know a thing about politics but "wanna vote for Obama", so they vote straight ticket without realizing what they are doing.

Propositions in California
"Prop 4: YES" ---> NO
"Prop 6: NO" ---> NO
"Prop 8: YES" ---> YES!


All in all, it wasn't as bad a night as some left-wingers predicted to be. The country has simply rejected the Bush administration, but that does not mean they want a radical leftist change. Now it's time for Republicans to get rid of the interventionist elements in the party (like McCain) and return to traditional conservative principles. It might have been a good night, after all.

What would be a Victory tomorrow?

All Polls show Barack Obama comfortably ahead of McCain, and I don't anticipate any surprises on that front. The Republicans have failed to appeal to the upper-middle class fiscal conservatives, focusing solely on the militaristic and populist wings of the party. Republicans cannot win if the four arms of the GOP aren't united (fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, small-town America and crazy neocons and veterans). It seems that McCain only appealed to his natural base: the military nuts, and, while Palin added some social conservatives and small-town America to the mix, the coalition is still weak since the real base, the Goldwater conservatives have been not only ignored but insulted this election cycle.

So that's that. Fortunately, there are plenty more races other than the presidential. In fact, Congressional elections are, in my view, more important than the presidential race this year. So what do I hope for tomorrow? What will make Alex happy??

Presidential Election
1. Barack Obama wins only a narrow victory; no landslides.
2. The West, the South, and the Great Plains remain mostly red.
3. Conservative alternatives such as Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin and Alan Keyes make a decent showing (more than 1.5% combined).
4. In California, Republicans manage to hold in Orange County, San Diego, the Inland Empire and the Central Valley.

Congressional Election
1. Republicans manage to gain seats, threatening the Democratic majority and keeping Obama in check.
2. The following congressmen get elected:
- Ron Paul (R-TX)
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- Sydney Hay (R-AZ)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Dana Rohbracher (R-CA)
- John Cambell (R-CA)
- Ken Calvert (R-CA)
- Gary Miller (R-CA)
- Ed Royce (R-CA)
3. The follwing senators get elected:
- John Sununu (R-NH)
4. In general, the Republican brand is able to resist, and principled conservatives get elected, while interventionists from both parties suffer losses.

Propositions in California
Prop 4: YES
Prop 6: NO
Prop 8: YES
Prop 9: NO

My Endorsement

Over the last weeks, I have been reading their websites, listening to their speeches and watching their tedious debates, and I have reached the conclusion that this is the election with the worst candidates in decades, if not centuries. Both Obama and McCain are painfully under prepared to handle the Presidency and all that it entitles. Their positions are vague, weak and, in most cases, ill-informed. And their biographies, which are supposedly the backbone of their campaigns, are far from being reassuring.

But what bothers me the most is the big change in election rhetoric and dynamics we are seeing this year. There used to be a time, not too long ago, where candidates came from drastically different philosophical approaches, and argued big issues, debated about the big picture of the country, proposed long-term solutions and had a clear vision for the future. Today, both candidates espouse interventionism, and with very few cosmetic differences, their positions in the big issues are almost identical. Even in an issue as important to conservatives as government spending, McCain can only talk about earmarks, bridges to nowhere and bear's DNA studies -- basically insignificant portions of the budget when compared to the military and socioeconomic interventionist policies that both candidates promote.

The country is facing a delicate time, and after 7 years of Bush's neocon interventionsit policies, we are stuck with a bleeding budget, a dying dollar and a rising deficit. Add the global economic and financial crisis to the combo and we have a pretty delicate situation in our hands. That is why we must return to the conservative principals of budget balancing and reduced spending, and unfortunately neither of the candidates are even seriously considering following that route. We have become like Europe, where electoral campaigns basically consist of a series of populist promises designed to get a handful of votes.

That is why I cannot support either John McCain or Barack Obama. And, out of the available third-party candidates, the one who can make the most impact is Libertartian candidate Bob Barr. It is important that we send a message to both Republicans and Democrats that we are not going to stand still while basic American principles are butchered in the name of "change". Bob Barr and the Libertarians are the only reasonable way to go for principled conservatives in 2008 that can make an impact on this dreadful election.



Update: McCain is now proposing that the Government (ie the taxpayers) should buy all bad mortgages... That's another $300 billion plan... This guy is totally insane. I don't know how there are still some republicans who are still supporting this nut. This is antithetical to everything we believe in. Obama had more sense and said that "taxpayers shouldn’t be asked to pick up the tab for the very folks who helped to create this crisis (...) It's not just that Sen. McCain's bailout rewards irresponsible lenders. It's that this bailout would make it more likely that those lenders would keep up their bad behavior".

The Top 10 Most Conservative and Liberal Cities

Here's something interesting I found: According to a study conducted by the non-partisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR), Provo, Utah is the most conservative city in America and Detroit, Michigan the most liberal.

Here's the top 10 most conservative city list:

1 Provo, Utah -- The center of Mormondom, the capital of the "Happy Valley".
2 Lubbock, Texas -- Hub of the West Texas' Southern Plains.
3 Abilene, Texas -- "Where the West begins". Huge population of evangelicals.
4 Hialeah, Florida -- A city where 90% of its inhabitants escaped (themselves or their families) communist Cuba
5 Plano, Texas -- Affluent Dallas suburb.
6 Colorado Springs, Colorado -- Gorgeous city in Central Colorado. Home to Focus on the Family.
7 Gilbert, Arizona -- Family-friendly suburb in the Mesa/Phoenix area. Part of Mormon-heavy "East Valley".
8 Bakersfield, California -- California's most conservative city. The capital of the sun-drenched San Joaquin Valley.
9 Lafayette, Louisiana -- Don't know much about Lafayette, except that it's wealthier, whiter and sunnier than New Orleans.
10 Orange County, California -- Affluent, family-friendly and drop-dead gorgeous suburban county south of LA. "Living behind the Orange Curtain".




...And the 10 most liberal:
1 Detroit, Michigan
2 Gary, Indiana
3 Berkeley, California
4 Washington, D.C. Dist. of Columbia
5 Oakland, California
6 Inglewood, California
7 Newark, New Jersey
8 Cambridge, Massachusetts
9 San Francisco, California
10 Flint, Michigan


So, as one can see, with the exceptions of a few college towns, bastions of upper-class intellectualism (Berkeley, Cambridge and SF), the rest of the top liberal cities are dirty, in economic distress and crime-ridden.

According to the article, "Detroit, MI, and Provo, UT, epitomize Americas political, economic and racial polarization, says Peter Thai, a BACVR researcher. As the most conservative city in America, Provo is overwhelmingly white and solidly middle class. This is in stark contrast to Detroit, which is impoverished, black and the most liberal."

So, I don't know, the cities of which list would you guys choose to live, work and raise a family???


First three pictures: Provo, UT; Gilbert, AZ; Orange County, CA
Last three pictures: Detroit, MI; Flint, MI; San Francisco, CA

Palin?

There is no question that this is one of the worst elections in history. Never has the lack of a conservative candidate been so obvious. We have a Democrat (McCain) running against a Socialist (Obama).

It looks as though, after 9/11, Republicans have forgotten what it means to be a conservative. It seems they have only focused on "national security conservatism", which is just plain old democratic interventionism. I mean, come on, when somebody like Joe Lieberman agrees to talk at the Convention (and is cheered) it means that the party has lost its way completely.

On top of that, the Dems have chosen one of the scariest and out-of-touch men as their candidate. And when you walk around the streets of Santa Monica and Venice and you see all those far-left nuts treating Obama as if he was the Saviour, I can't help but feel deeply worried, and somewhat scared.

I'll keep an eye on Sarah Palin since she appears to be the only conservative on the ticket as of now, but if McCain likes her, maybe we should also be wary of her. It seems to me that she is a nice lady hanging out with the wrong crowd. But then again, where is the right crowd in this election?

Must we choose the lesser of the two evils again while we watch this country losing itself??
I honestly don't know at this point.

Obama: Cult Of Personality

The media loves him, young voters, independents and non-political folks do so too, and it looks as if the democratic establishment is rallying behind Barack too.

What I don't understand is what they see in him. Sure, he can talk, but so can a used car salesman. But his speeches are all pure rhetoric, designed only to to stir emotion. That's why he is able to attract such a diverse group of people: he doesn't clearly say what his positions are.

He talks about change and post-partisanism, yet his thin voting record proves that he is a textbook liberal. He talks about being post-racial, yet he attended a black nationalist church for 2o years (even if he was raised by his white Kansas mother, he felt the need to align himself with Afrocentric organizations); and he talks about how he loves America, yet his little-known policies are designed to alter the values that make America great.

But people don't know that. Folks see him as a pop culture icon, a once little-known man that has made it to the top, a man that can change things, someone who is not George Bush.
But he is the modern Trojan horse, he is a well-versed, decent looking, charismatic man that might get voted in by unsuspecting Americans and then govern like the true socialist he is.

This Jesuslike devotion is just scary. It takes the complexities of a country and simplifies it into one man and his speeches to fix everything. It's never good when people think with their hearts over their heads, especially in Politics.