Please vote for the McCain-Palin ticket

Senator John McCain is the obvious choice for President of the United States. I would never have considered voting for anyone but him, and certainly not his opponent.



Because I am surprised at the number of people who do not see his obvious quality of character and qualifications for the Presidency, while at the same time they magnify Senator Obama's qualifications, which he lacks, I am making this statement, a public expression of support and voting recommendation, for the first time.



John McCain is a whole and vibrant man, who has not only a commendable character, but also a coherent and integrated view of his country, his faith and his policies. Many who have grown up in the chaotic past few decades do not recognize what has become so rare, which is a man (or a woman) who we would call "being made of whole cloth."



The expression "to be made of whole cloth" means a mature and reliable individual of completeness in his view of himself and his responsibilities. A man of "whole cloth" is not patched together from scraps of different fabrics. John McCain is a man of whole cloth.



Someone who is not of "whole cloth," is, by contrast, a man or woman who like a crazy quilt made up of pieces of many different scraps of cloth, has as a result a hodge podge of factors that are, to use another expression, "weak at the seams." Many people, both politicians and citizens, of the past few decades, are scattered in their education, their policy, their attitude and their own self perception, just like a crazy quilt made up of scraps of cloth stitched together "however the chips fall."



A man of whole cloth, like John McCain, has formed his own character and view of the world through building on a firm foundation of self identity, of love of faith and country, and who then, secure in his own identity, can make his own well informed decisions, even ones that may be surprising.



A man like Barrack Obama, by contrast, picks up whatever scraps of self identity float his way, and then force them together, like a crazy quilt, to look like a whole, but is filled with error and weakness. A lot is not his fault, since that is the tragedy of many who have grown up in chaotic personal and societal times. But to promote the pieces of the crazy quilt and claim that it is sufficient for the Presidency is startling and the height of irresponsibility. What astonishes me is how many people seem to be unable to see that problem with him, right from the start.



Senator Obama puts together his identity and policy like thus: he grabs a scrap of one worldview (socialism) and tries to stitch it to a scrap of capitalism (from which he has benefited); he grabs a scrap of having "great faith" in Christ, and then stitches it to a scrap that is very exclusionary and hostile to mainstream faith; he grabs a scrap that says he has compassionate concern for children, and then sews it to a scrap that will not intervene when even the most extreme abortion abuse scenario, where a living baby is born instead of being aborted; he grabs a scrap of being the great diplomat, and then sews it to making rash ("I am not a wimp") jingoistic statements about Georgia, Iran and so forth. He grabs a piece of cloth of being "inclusive," yet sics the dogs on "Joe the plumber," a man who he approached in his neighborhood, when Joe the plumber gets election wide attention.



I am terribly sympathetic to those who are so tempted by the sway of "finally" "getting an Afro American" President. But gosh, not only is that not a reason to vote for someone who is otherwise so immature and unstable in his policy and view of America, but it is actually a problem because he is not so very fair after all, as we see in the "Joe the Plumber" incident. Young people, especially young Afro-Americans, I am going to teach you two code words that you probably do know about, but may not. One is what I used above, which is "sicing the dogs." You know that is a code expression for how police dogs were set upon Civil Rights protesters during the struggle for civil rights. Yes, political campaigns are rough. But why have Obama supporters been allowed to "sic the dogs" on a layman, a civilian, an average citizen, an average potential voter, just because he expressed his opinion when asked? Should not a Civil Rights "veteran" be particularly sensitive about doing that to anyone? And so I introduce another code word to that situation to ask you about, which is being "uppity." "Uppity" is what used to be applied to Afro-Americans who spoke up and seemed "not to know their place." Well, it looks like Joe the plumber sure got "uppity," didn't he? By the way, we are now seeing the same treatment of "sicing the dogs" on the "uppity" female journalist in Florida who dared question Senator Joe Biden (gosh, if he can't handle it, how could he have ever handled Krushiev??)



My point is that you, as voters, should question someone who you view as a role model and hero for your gender, race, faith or "cause" who seems to not defend other people's rights to not be treated as unfairly as "your people" (whatever the historic situation) were themselves? So not only does Mr. Obama have a crazy quilt hodge podge of self identity, stance toward his own country and policies, but he is not in practice the great "equalizer," but lets himself appear to be a "chip on the shoulder" "turner of the tables."



Mr. Obama, like so many of this past generation, has had a personal and intellectual identity that came from pieces of biased and skewed material being fed to him by those who he admired, rather than starting on a firm foundation of self understanding and properly rooted civics, and then allowing himself to determine bold new policies, as has Senator McCain.



For example, any Latino American who does not vote for Senator McCain must be out of his or her mind. Senator McCain went against his very own party, and many of his advisers, to try to legislate a very generous and fair step forward in the problem of immigration and work rights in this country for all, and most especially Latinos. He was beaten to a political pulp for standing up for all of you, and if Latinos do not turn out to vote for Senator McCain I will be very disappointed and view it as a lack of loyalty, character and misidentification of your own self interest. Senator McCain derived a generous and wise proposal that addressed many problems of the Latinos from his firm and consistent "whole cloth" stance regarding human rights, the golden prize of citizenship, and the reality of the need to support immigrant families in their quest for honest work and stable homes. Senator McCain is able to take his ethical personal and civic character and then extend it to others, rather than have a "chip on the shoulder" approach toward expanding prosperity, opportunity, rights and yes, "hope," as Senator Obama seems to spew, yet demonstrate otherwise, in both his own actions and the company that he keeps.



Senator McCain has the complete package, a whole cloth foundational approach to his own genuine character, his stance toward his country and civics, and the formulation of his policies, both those that are conventionally traditional, and those that are then seen to be surprising and thus called "maverick." His opponent is stitched together from many books of quotations, rather than being a fully integral whole that results from the maturation of his youthful view and upbringing. Senator McCain had great responsibility as a youth, even when he went through his wild young phases, and that is normal and we have seen a great maturity yet peppy kind of vigor that comes from someone who was by no means a wallflower. We see that a lot with military guys and gals, who had great responsibility while at the same time could be a bit crazy and zany when young. But that is how a great man, or woman, is made.



While I am not blaming Senator Obama for not having military experience, he did not have the youthful origins that were the self made man or woman American story, but are rather of a stitching together of the political radical views of those who surrounded him and his family from the beginning. One cannot develop a character such as Senator McCain has done if one borrows a page of one's being from socialism, another from an excluding church, another from hostility toward every pro life endeavor, regardless how modest, and yet another page from the jet setting celebrity seeking "protege." I can blame a man of his age for not being self aware enough to recognize that he has just stuffed ideologue quotations and tactics together in a sack and called that an ethics, a policy, a worldview.



So I urge all of you who want to see genuine change and progress to vote for Senator McCain, the exciting and intellectually honest McCain-Palin ticket.