Why I'm Voting Republican

This column is going to deviate a bit from the usual issues-affecting-conservatives format. I'm going to use this space to discuss my thoughts on this fall's election. The other day, I got my absentee ballot in the mail. I decided to vote absentee because I wanted to vote for our 5th district Representative, Steve Buyer. I think he's performed well, and I agree with the agenda he's supporting as a member of the Republican Congress. I realized that the 8th district Representative, John Hostettler, needs my vote too, but there are also a few candidates on my hometown ballot that I know personally, and I wanted the opportunity to vote for them.

I signed up for the absentee ballot before any of the latest revelations in the Clinton scandal came to light. At that point, I figured that at the local level, the difference between Republican and Democratic candidates was negligible, especially where I live. I assumed, as many do, that the difference between the two didn't matter, that even those running as Democrats were still quite conservative, and maybe even more so than some Republican candidates running elsewhere. I guessed that because our State Representative and State Senator share the same White County thinking as I do, their party affiliation really didn't matter. I thought that offices at the local level, such as Sheriff, County Commissioner, Clerk, or Assessor, are politically inconsequential enough to disregard the candidates' party affiliation, especially if I know the candidate personally.

I've changed my mind. Local candidates choose a party with which to run for the same reasons national candidates do. They wish to be identified with a general set of positions on the issues; each party has a basic philosophy or ideology. Each party's positions are determined by who leads that party: whoever has the most influence over a party's agenda is the leader, usually on the national level. Therefore, if a local candidate runs for office on a certain party's ticket, they are choosing to identify themselves with that party's leadership.

Which brings me to the reason I'm voting straight Republican. Actually, my position is not so much pro-Republican as it is anti-Democrat. This position is more than a knee-jerk reaction to Bill Clinton, though he is mostly to blame. The real problem is who controls the agenda of the Democrats. The recent House vote on whether to open an impeachment inquiry did a lot to reveal who controls this agenda. Since the leadership is on the national level, we can assume it's controlled by either the Congressional leadership, or by Bill Clinton. The votes of Democrat House members determines who controls the agenda, since it's becoming clear that Clinton's scandals are starting to hurt the party as a whole.

If a large amount of Democrats vote to open an inquiry, then it is clear that they are taking control of the party, and trying to eliminate Clinton's threat to their election chances. On the other hand, if few Democrats vote to open the inquiry, then it's apparent that Clinton controls the party, and therefore the party's agenda. The result: only 31 out of 206 Democrats voted to open an inquiry. This tells me that Bill Clinton is in charge of the Democratic party, and sets their agenda. So let's look at a list of things Bill Clinton (and, as we've determined, Democrats in general) supports: lying to the American people, lying to Congress, lying before a grand jury (a.k.a. perjury), possible witness tampering, possible obstruction of justice, adultery, and extreme sexual perversion, just to name some recent examples.

"But Joel, this all came out after the filing deadline; these candidates didn't know this sort of thing was going on." Sure, I can grant that. They couldn't know about the Monica Lewinsky situation before it broke. But let's take a trip down memory lane, and find some things these candidates DID know about. Let's remember scandals such as the FBI files, Paula Jones (don't forget about Gennifer!), the Somalia debacle, Zoe Baird, the travel office firings, Jocelyn Elders, socialized healthcare, gays in the military, retroactive tax increases, cattle futures, and, of course, Medi-scare. And that's all from his FIRST term. These candidates knew exactly with whom they were associating.

Since I don't support this agenda, I've decided to vote straight Republican on my absentee ballot. I would encourage you to do the same when you vote. Do it regardless of whether the race is Senator, State Senator, or dog catcher. Do it even if the Democrat is your brother, sister, uncle, cousin, spouse, or child. Unless, of course, you want your elected officials to identify most closely with Bill Clinton, and to advance the wonderful agenda we've just discussed. To borrow a phrase, do it for the children.