How To Pick A Candidate

I talked to my dad.  He was his usual self but a little bit down and tired sounding.  “I just scrubbed the bathroom and the kitchen and my back started hurting me some so I decided to sit down for a while and the phone rang.  But that’s okay, though, it was Colorado calling!”  We talked about all manner of stuff.  He was missing mom today even though he didn’t say anything.  He is already up to Joshua in his Bible reading this year, “And when I get done, Herbert, I can read wherever I want to.  I like to read Psalms and Revelations.  But Daniel is good, too.  And I like Romans and Corinthians.  I have a hard time with Chronicles sometimes but they’re okay, too.”

I was also tasked over the weekend with the onerous job of cleaning my desk, which took several more hours than you would think and resulted in a bag of trash and 2 boxes for DAV.  I also am working on a website for the church and since I want it to be as close to perfect as I humanly can (perfect in my estimation, anyway), I have not made rounds the last couple of days, but I will catch up where I can.

I received another nice comment on the Joseph story http://herbthiel.com/index.php?catid=15&blogid=1 , this time from Tina, about stepfathers.  I really feel encouraged by these things and do want to continue, I just have to squeeze it in.  I had given thought to reducing the number of days I make rounds, but then some of you are so prolific I feel that if I leave off reading for a day or two I will have too much to make up, but reducing my outgoing visits and perhaps even limiting e-mail time would certainly free up time to actually write, which is one of the main reasons I took up blogging in the first place.  I am going to start in earnest to copy from my old blog into here.  I was just going to post them here on new days as “new” but then decided I would use the “Post-to-the-Past” option.  No, unfortunately this is not a time travel option, but merely a date trick on the software.

I’ve started using “Gravatar” http://site.gravatar.com/ on the comments and shoutbox here, so if you have or start an account there you should show up.  It is free, a little fun and so far hasn’t caused any problems, other than the havoc wreaked on the code by my own diddlepotzing nature.

My friend, Jim, hasn’t been able to send much info the last few times I wrote him so not much on that front.

I’m trying another scambaiting thing, but I don’t know.  I think I have too much fun just writing the stuff about Professor Frederick Von Googleheimer, although the professor does have a tendency to take up a person’s time so maybe I am meeting the goal.  I hope you all found him as interesting as I did.

Speaking of scams, I haven’t talked about politics much lately.  I guess I am somewhat disgruntled of late.  The Republican Party is just not getting it.  Just tacking a little “R” behind your name doesn’t mean people are going to automatically think you are a conservative any more.  There are too many RINOs (That’s “Republican In Name Only” for those of you in Rio Linde) on the ticket.  The party has made a couple of serious errors that I hope they will correct or the country is going to be in for an awful time.

Republican Error Number One:  Conservative does not equal Republican.  Just because you tag yourself “Republican” doesn’t automatically mean I am voting for you.  When you do things like replace a good, conservative candidate (Bob Schaeffer, 2004) with a known conservative record and a reputation for integrity with a businessman with “name recognition” I am not going to change my mind and vote for Coors just because you said so.  I will rather withhold my vote completely.

Republican Error Number Two:  Taking my vote for granted.  Just because I have voted Republican in the past does not guarantee that I will in the future.  You, Republican Party, have been lucky that the Democratic Party has been hi-jacked by the extreme lefts from Kooksville.  (Sounds like a ball team, doesn’t it?  “And now up at bat, The Kooksville Lefties!”)  There used to be such a thing as Conservative Democrats and it could happen again, not discounting strong Independents.

Now, you, Gentle Reader, will receive a handy guide on who to vote for.  This is a public service provided to those of my readers who either do not own any common sense or are going to vote based on 10-second sound bytes and classic good looks.  (Sorry, on that last one, the classic good looks, I know many of you have a definite opinion about whether I should run based on those criteria alone.  I don’t think I will run.)

I am going to give you a quick, free lesson on how to pick your candidates.  Probably the most important thing an American can do in our great Representative Republic is often relegated to listening to 30 second attack ads and a biased propaganda machine.  If you live in another country (I have readers from around the world) that allows you to vote in free elections then this will also apply to you, but it is election time here and so I will focus on here.

One of the scariest, most ridiculous things I have ever heard or read anyone say is, “I vote a straight party ticket.  I just go and click the lever that says my party’s name and then I’m done.”  That is really wrong and wrong-headed.  What you need to do is study the individual for yourself.  You need to know where each person stands on each issue.

And, before you can do that, there is a step you need to take.  You need to know what you believe in.  You should pick out a handful of issues that are important to you, personally.  Things that you know you believe in and that, if you were the elected official, you would work to change.  These must be things that are so near to your heart and so important to you personally that if you were forced to choose between changing your beliefs or die, your only choice could be death.  For the good of the country, you must know what your own beliefs are.

Then vote for the person who reflects your specific values.  This may or may not be along party lines.  The thing people need to realize and do is assess themselves, first, then assess the candidates and issues.  You need to vote for the person, not the organization.  What this country needs is yet another record-breaking voter turn-out by people who know what they believe in who will vote for people who will represent them.

You also need to think of the country.  Republicans need to realize that they lost so many elections last time around not because the Democrats had such better ideas or even better media coverage, but because the people you presented to us didn’t ring true.  They came across to conservatives and people of conviction as plastic and not really believing in what they said.

I said a handful of issues because you may need to weigh your options.  This candidate is fiercely 2^nd amendment and pro-military, but is weak on the economy and you don’t believe he is really pro-life, no matter what he says.  The other is the opposite.

My ideal candidate will share my values and be:

Pro-Life

Pro-Second Amendment Individual Rights

Pro-First Amendment Individual Rights

Pro-Immigration Law Enforcement

Pro-Strong Military/Anti-Terror

Pro-Tax Reform

(Okay, so a handful is five, I have six.  I actually have several more.)

Your ideal candidate may or may not be.  Call them up and ask.  If it is an incumbent, call their office and say, “Congressman Lamborn, what have you accomplished in his term?”

Remember, the good book says, “Herb for President!”