John McCain Does Not "Deserve" To Be President

By David Hinz

Because he spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese Prison, tortured on an almost daily basis, John McCain deserves to be honored by the people of a grateful nation.

When offered an early release, because his father and grandfather were both high ranking Admirals, he refused. He knew that his early release would be used as a propaganda tool by our enemies, and so refused to be released before others who had been in captivity longer than he.

This act of courage alone warrants high praise and honors, to a man who still bears the scars and disfigurement inflicted by his brutal captors.

John McCain deserves to be honored for his many years of service to his country as a member of Congress. The people of Arizona, by dint of the election process, have seen fit to return him to Congress, by huge majorities, believing that he, better than anyone else, represents their state's interests in that body.

As a member of Congress he has passionately fought for those issues on which he is most deeply concerned; sometimes angering and engendering passions on both sides of the aisle.

As a Presidential Candidate, John McCain deserves his Party's nomination. Through a spirited primary season, he has defeated all challengers. His campaign appeared at one time to be stalled, and he was written off as dead as a candidate.

Instead of rolling over and giving up, he was able to garner support from moderates and independents in early states, accumulating momentum and delegates. In what has often become a bitter and sometimes ugly brawl among supporters of various candidates, he has steadfastly maintained a positive campaign, determined to discuss issues and not personalities.

And there is the issue. Based upon issues, John McCain does not deserve to be President. He must earn that position. No candidate, of either Party automatically deserved to become President, because they are next in line, or it is their Party's turn. No candidate of either Party deserves to become President, simply because the other Party is fielding a candidate who is unacceptable. The Presidency needs to be earned, based upon the merits of that candidate.

As a "maverick" John McCain has garnered the enmity of much of the Conservative Republican base with such issues as McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, and his new-found fealty to Manmade Global Warming. Members of that base hope he has seen the errors of those ways, and that he will change his mind as to the advisability of those issues.

McCain-Feingold, or Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform, was designed to "take the money" out of politics. What it has instead done, is to camouflage that money behind a shell game of 527 organizations. Hundreds of millions of dollars are now funneled into these unaccountable interest groups, each dedicated to their own agenda, while the public has no awareness of where that groups funding is derived. A noble idea, derailed into political activism without accountability.

McCain-Kennedy, a bill pushed by the Bush Administration, would have provided for citizenship for tens of millions of illegal aliens already breaking American laws. Those lawbreakers would have offered a "cut in line" on the "path to citizenship" ahead of those immigrants willing to go through the legal process.

When the American people rose up in backlash against that legislation, Senator McCain offered hope that he has changed his mind, and now favors a "secure the border first" approach to the problem.

On the issue of Manmade Global Warming, Senator McCain has become a recent convert to the cause. In light of more recent research that points to the fact that the earth has not warmed since 1998, and the even more recent discovery of ocean currents that environmentalists now inform us will cause global cooling for the next decade or more, one would hope that the good senator would change his mind about implementing his Cap-and-Trade proposals, which many economists warn could destroy the American economy.

Senator McCain has demonstrated his dedication to smaller, less intrusive government in his opposition to the Bush Tax Cuts without corresponding cuts in spending. He has demonstrated his opposition to out-of-control government spending by refusing to partake in the "earmark" process of adding "pork barrel spending" measures to legislation. Most congress members use this process to buy votes back home, while bloating the Federal government spending.

Senator McCain has demonstrated his dedication to national defense through his support of the military throughout the war against Islamofascism. His belief in a change in policy in Iraq, put him in the forefront of the "Surge" strategy that now looks to have effectively changed the paradigm in that country, and could lead to reconciliation and peace for the people of Iraq.

On those two issues alone, Senator McCain might well earn the vote of Conservatives.