Having read and reread the different candidate’s stands on the major issues I have narrowed my choices down to three candidates that I think could give the Republican’s a chance at winning in November. Those candidates are Ron Paul, John McCain, and Fred Thompson. I believe that these three men have the courage to stand on their own to make the difficult decisions that must be made to restore America to what it was prior to the last eight years of self seeking, poorly executed decision making. 

Unfortunately, however, Bush’s tenure has most likely made it near impossible for any Republican candidate to win at the polls. Of these men my first choice would be Ron Paul, whom even his senate colleagues know cannot be swayed from his personal feelings of right or wrong to vote along party lines. However, Ron Paul is not making his presence felt in places like Springfield, Mo, where I have repeatedly sought to find like-minded individuals who want to support his campaign. In fact, I found many but none of us has been able to find a Ron Paul headquarters or seen any advertising on his behalf. Due to that I have nearly eliminated him as a possibility for the nomination. 

My second choice for a Republican candidate would be Fred Thompson, of Law and Order fame. My problem with Senator Thompson’s campaign in MO is similar to Ron Paul’s in that he has made no presence here. There is no advertising or field office that I am aware of. This amounts to a lack of effort on his part making it impossible for us to know what he has to offer to the presidency over the other candidates running for the nomination. My other problem with Senator Thompson is his lack of executive experience in comparison to John McCain who has stated time and time again that he needs on the job training and that he is ready to lead from day one.  

John McCain has proved his executive experience on the field of battle by serving in Viet Nam as an officer in the United States Navy and then suffering 5 ½ years of torture as a prisoner of war in a North Viet Nam prison camp. I believe that his personal experience makes him more than qualified to understand the horrors of the war that we are now engaged in and to do what is necessary to defeat a ruthless enemy or leave the arena with our dignity in tact. Now, as then, McCain has displayed personal courage and heroism under fire. Add that to the fact that I believe he has the best record and most experience of any candidate running in either party, when it comes to issues of national security, and I find myself with no choice but to cast my vote with him.

 While, many of you know that I do not support the conflict in Iraq I am aware that the way it is handled over the next few years will have far-reaching impacts on America’s ability to protect itself in the future. We are so deep into the mess over there at this point that we cannot just pull out without having our enemies see us as weak and as our withdrawal a victory for terrorism. Therefore, we must choose our next Commander-in-Chief with great care making sure that he is wise enough to find a plausible and honorable exit strategy that will allow us to preserve our dignity and the Iraqi people to regain some semblance of stability. Due to his war experiences I believe that John McCain has the best chance of helping the United States avoid being forced into a position of full-time Iraqi peacekeeper, at our taxpayer’s expense.  

Another point of significant consideration has to answer Fred Thompson’s question, during the last presidential debate, when he asked which candidate the people of the United States wanted to see sitting at the negotiating table across from America’s worst enemies. I am sorry but, other than George Bush, I can’t imagine any of the Democratic party candidates, other than possibly John Edwards, at that table. On the other hand I have no doubt that the to hear the words President John McCain would nothing but strike fear into the hearts of Putin, Ahmadinejads, or Kim John Ils. 

Another point in favor of McCain is his consistent conservatism. While not afraid to buck the system, when need arises, he has always been pro-life, fought vigorously against government waste, supported the right to bear arms, and supported a free economy.  In his fight to avoid run away spending McCain took opposition to Bush’s tax cuts in 2002 but voted to keep them in 2005 when it was obvious that the taxpayer needed them. He, however, still voiced his concern that these tax cuts were not tied to reductions in government spending. These fears are well founded as most of us know given the fact that we are now trillions of dollars in debt after 8 years of the Bush administration and their unethical and careless spending practices. One has to wonder if the Bush administration had listened to McCain’s concerns if our country could have maintained its solid economic base. 

While I am aware that there are many more issues of concern to voters I will address those in future articles. For now I am content to say that I stand behind McCain and am pleased that he has received the cross-party nomination of Senator Joe Lieberman who endorsed him on Monday, January, 7. I believe that this shows that McCain has the support to cross party lines and work in conjunction with Democrats to make this a truly united country instead of a bipartisan one.

[tags]John McCain, presidential candidate, Fred Thompson, John Edwards, Ron Paul, Joe Lieberman, tax cuts, Bush Administration, gevernment spending, Commander in Chief, prisoner of war, Viet Nam, United States Navy, Iraqi people, National Security, [/tags]