Republican Rome Redux

I have often lamented the fact that there has not been a presidential candidate worth voting for since 1984--the last time the Gipper stood for office. That we have not had a true conservative champion of republican (little "r"--in the mold of Thomas Jefferson) ideals behind whom our nation's true independent character could rally, for a quarter of a century, does not bode well for these re-United States. We are fast becoming a nation of hand-out hold-outs, lulled to sleep by the velvet-gloved tyranny of an entrenched central government political caste and it's increasingly unchecked bureaucracy. It's a Rome redux--a great empire, it's reach and influence unrivaled in the known world, forgetting its republican roots and turning its focus on morally destructive selfish behavior and accepting the tyranny of the dole rather than the freedom of self-sufficiency.

A nation as powerful and important as ours, never mind the rights of the PEOPLE our Constitution so eloquently and unequivocally protects, needs truly enlightened (not the fake "enlightenment" of socialist "liberalism") leadership at the top to ensure against the trampling of the rights of our people to live free. That freedom, guaranteed by our Constitution, is not a guarantee of the central government's provision of all our wants and needs. Rome's bread and circuses, free to the masses, dulled the citizenry's senses to the excesses of the ruling elite, and bred a weak and whining population unable to withstand the rigors of national defense--Rome fell to relatively weak "barbarian" tribes because it had become so rotten and soft at its population's core. The freedom our Constitution guarantees is the freedom for each of us to make our own way, within the bounds of accepted societal norms. When we depend on other men for our daily bread, we become unable to fend for ourselves, and ultimately unable to defend ourselves and our nation.

While I could never vote for either of the two closet socialists currently engaged in internecine warfare for the presidential nomination of the George Soros party, I am having a hard time squaring my beliefs with those of Senator McCain. I have the utmost respect for the man--he is one of my heroes (read his wikepedia entry and he will be one of your heroes as well--unless you are a Vietnamese communist). But, he has ridden the fence as a moderate "maverick" to gain fame in national office and I'm not certain of his core principles.

But, then again, I voted for two Bushes and Dole whilst holding my nose--guess I can do it again.