It appears at this writing, the 2008 presidential contest will be Obama vs. McCain. My daughter text-messaged me the other day: "I'm at the caucus!" She lives in Seattle, Washington, which had them on Feb. 9. It is significant in that this is the first time my 25 year old daughter has expressed any interest in politics of any kind. I am sure she is not the only one. It is Barack Obama that is firing an enthusiasm of the young today that more than likely will sweep him into the White House. In perusing the professional and elegant Obama website, it's hard to see anything blatantly objectionable or alarming. For that one would probably need to drill down. But without a doubt the election is shaping up to be the Old vs. the New. When I was my daughter's age, it was John F. Kennedy inspiring the young to sign up for the Peace Corps. I remember seeing all the Peace Corps volunteers undergoing physical training at Cal Berkeley (as if pushups in gym suits would aid them in filthy, disease-ridden villages in Africa). My preference: if I were going to some Third World country, I'd rather go with a Marine division rather than being stuck alone and unsupported in some dirty little village. And that's how I went to Vietnam in 1966.
But an underlying Obama assumption is that one can build heaven on earth with government tax and spend programs. This is pure European social semocracy! As our secular society turns from faith, they pray the "Our Government who art in Washington, Hallowed be thy benefits" as opposed to the traditional "Our Father". But the European social democracies are dying! Their "progressive" culture of death policies have resulted in birth rates so low that the populations are halving every 35 years! This means the cradle-to-grave nanny state is economically unsustainable.
It also means the Islamic <a href="immigration invasion will turn Europe Islamic. Though the Left <a href="">deludes itself into thinking this will result in a "truly multicultural Europe and a more progressive Islam", a Taliban-style Europe is more likely, because the <a href=" ">Wahabbists are building and running the mosques.
A few things come to mind: unfortunately, Satan is the Prince of this world. Inevitably personality, back biting, and corruption follow what always turns out to be just another massive government bureaucracy established in the name of a problem without solving anything.
One has to ask: what happened to Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty"? What happened to Richard Nixon's 1972 "War on Cancer"? What happened to our effort to "protect the liberty of the people of South Vietnam from Communist aggression"? Billions spent with no results!
As for John McCain, he is basically "the last man standing" in the Republican primary process. He will be the Bob Dole of 2008. His campaign has concluded that conservatives "have nowhere else to go". But we do! We can lose interest in politics and go about our lives doing other things, like visiting grandchildren, like bracing ourselves for the massive tax increases that are on the way, moving our holdings offshore where possible.