The recent capitulation of major democrats to Mr Bush and his idiot war is being touted as “good politics.” Because the war is such a total failure, its continuation will doom all war-supporting repubs in future elections. So, the thinking goes, dems were smart to approve new war funding, simultaneously tieing the war around the necks of the republicans while avoiding being labelled as “soft on terrorism.”
Only two problems with the strategy. First, it is immoral to lend approval to an ongoing carnage for individual political gains. The only way to halt the cycle of violence is to STOP.
But even worse (for the dems), they will surely lose votes for such blatant political posturing:
Voters don’t like pollster-driven politics or politicians, and with good reason: They want to know what their leaders’ values are, because if they know their values, they know how they’re likely to represent them — not just on today’s issues, but on tomorrow’s, about which we may have no inkling today.
Political scientists have found that people prefer to vote for candidates who share their values, but they prefer a candidate who is strong in his or her convictions — even if they don’t share those convictions — to one whose convictions are hidden in the fine print. Being strong and principled isn’t about being left, center, or right. The fact that voters associate values with the right reflects the fact that conservatives wear their values proudly on their sleeves, and they display their principles in their voting records.
Conservatives don’t vote for bills they don’t believe in. If the public associates principles and values with the GOP, it’s time Democrats start showing voters that there’s another set of principles and values out there: theirs.
Principle number one: no more money for immoral wars.
Principle number two: all wars are immoral.