Can I vote for Romney

Dr. Mike Adams, in today's column,1 writes about several cases where someone innocent of any crime reminds a rape victim of the horrible crime committed against her. I believe his first example is a real life one. His other is not meant to be. He does this trying ti illustrate how stupid it is to blame a child for being the result of rape. I doubt anyone not already convinced will accept his writing sufficiently to change their mind. The real point of his article though, is in the last two paragraphs. He points out that former governor Romney supports abortion of children in cases of rape. He concludes that Mr. Romney experiences "deep moral confusion" and practices "chronic moral capitulation."

I agree with Dr. Adams, I believe that Mr. Romney's commitment to the pro-life cause is one that he will routinely compromise on - at best. I believe that his commitment to other important issues, like getting rid of Obamacare, reducing the size and power of the federal government, and generally returning to us the freedoms we were promised by the founding fathers, are equally insincere.

Mr. William Doino outlines some of the reasons I have cause for concern as well.2 Governor Romney chooses to focus on economics at a value voters summit.3 He considers abortion "settled,"4 a word that has been used consistently to mean "something that we must respect as an existing precedent." He supports legalized murder for cases involving rape and incest at least, though sometimes he seems to include the "health" of the mother, another key phrase in the abortion debate that one would think he would understand the meaning of.5

Why would a candidate that we can trust feel the need to grab a choke hold on the platform of the Republican Party?6 I do not always agree with the Freedom Works team. I view them at least as skeptically as I view pretty much any other politician, and so their report must be taken with a grain of salt. Still, no good can come of changing rules to make it harder to hear more voices in the platform development process. I am particularly disappointed to hear that Speaker Boehner cooperated with this. I am not sure why I am disappointed, to become speaker, he clearly is and must be in with those that Freedom Works calls "RNC insiders," and yet, I am, in fact, disappointed.

Mr. Brad Miner, in his review of Supreme Knight Anderson's book, suspects that the Democrats could survive without the Catholic vote.7 The implication though is that he agrees that the Republicans cannot. Our Supreme Knight reminds us that our vote can be a form of protest against a corrupt political system where neither viable candidate is worth voting for. He also reminds us that we have a responsibility to be trying to change the entire direction of the political system, not just looking for a way to slow the decline.

Mr. Steve Skojec makes the best case for voting for Mr. Romney that I have heard, or read.8 This is perhaps because he is not denying reality.

If Romney becomes President, I believe:

• 4 years from now, Roe will still be the law of the land and no major legislation to change this will be an agenda of the administration
• Any Supreme Court appointments made during his term will be of dubious reliability on Constitutional or life issues
• We will still be spending far too much on defense, and involved in conflicts of dubious compatibility with just war doctrine
• We may not, in fact, see the promised repeal of Obamacare, due to legislative challenges (he’ll need to control both houses of Congress)
• We will likely see the continued erosion of civil liberties under an intrusive, nanny-state government, through the agency of things like the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and TSA
• The government will remain far too large, spend far too much, and we will likely continue on the path toward complete financial insolvency as a nation

I agree with every single one of these statements. Most, if not every, argument to vote for Mr. Romney that I have heard so far denies at least one of these. To his point about Obamacare, I add my concern that Mr. Romney does not even truly want to fully remove the law. But returning to the the thread, Mr. Skojec is thus, so far at least, starting from the same point I am. Mr. Romney is so far from being a good candidate that it takes a candidate like President Obama or President Clinton to make Mr. Romney seem decent.

We then, however, come to a difference. Mr. Skojec then quotes Mr. John C. Wright,9 who I also quote here below.

The United States is the one Republican form of government left in a feotid and ever-rising sewer of broke, ugly, churlish, socialist welfare-state bureaucracies, and broke, bloodthirsty, post-communist dictatorships, and broke, inhuman, totalitarian theocracies across the Middle East. The United State is rapidly degenerating from a Christian nation to a sub-pagan postchristian neo-barbarian nation, but the cancer has not yet reached her heart.10

Is Mr. Wright correct? I pray he is. I have chosen a career acceptable only if you predicate that he is. I wonder though. I have expressed the idea, sometimes even a conviction, that we are as addicted to our socialist welfare-state bureaucracies as any European regime is. If that conviction is true, a vote for Mr. Romney will not help keep us from becoming one. If it is false, if we can be saved without bottoming out like a drug addict, then Mr. Wright's and Mr. Skojec's conclusion does seem to follow from their premises.

I know that much of my family will be voting for Mr. Romney. They, like Mr. Wright and Mr. Skojec believe that a Romney presidency gives us time to save this country. They, like Mr. Wright and Mr. Skojec believe that should President Obama win another term, we will pass a tipping point, and that a European regime is all that remains for our future. Some of them fear even worse. I have trouble sharing their fears. I believe that should Mr. Skojec's 6 points come to pass, we may have moved more towards a European regime than a second term for Mr. Obama, that a Romney presidency that fails is content to slow the pace of our downward drift will also cement the direction of that drift. I believe that we have passed beyond the point where we can truly say we have the liberties that the Constitution promises us.

Though I am not, and have never been in our armed forces, I did take an oath to defend the Constitution. I take that very seriously. Our constitution is being ignored by both parties. My faith gives me options, not an option to vote for or support Obama, but an option to chose how best to resist evil. Do I make an effort to limit and slow the growth of that evil? That is permissible. Do I make an effort to work, however slowly, for that evil's ultimate reversal, however unlikely immediate success is? That too is permissible. What action of mine will best help defend the constitution? Which will best ensure that my boys have at least the shadow of rights that we now enjoy?

Is Mr. Romney as bad as I fear? I read nothing, and have heard nothing, to dissuade me from that conclusion. When I edited this post on 2012-10-02, I wrote that it is, after all, "no longer enough to be the belt-tightening party."11 I still believe that. We must turn around, or we will face what Greece now faces. If, however, I am wrong, and I know I am always tempted to pessimism, then it is not inevitable that we must go through worse to get to better. If we can still turn around of our own volition, and can muster the the courage to do so before the disaster is both imminent and undeniable, then I must vote for Mr. Romney.