"For better or for worse, the notion of voting for the candidate rather than the party is now mostly naive idealism. The Democratic Party is now fully left-wing, and is simply the American version of any European Social Democratic party. It is the party of ever-expanding government. (The Republican Party, in contrast, is -- at long last -- the party of small government.)"I thought Prager was smarter than that, but there it is -- an unapologetic indictment of independence, wrapped in a simple-minded endorsement of partisanship. (I think he's jumping the gun a wee bit, by the way, in proclaiming the GOP's restraint. As far as I know, the jury's still out on that.)
Prager then shows us that he's completely lost his mind:
"This country would be in considerably better shape if [former Alaska Gov. Sarah] Palin were either vice president or president."He goes on cite a half-dozen instances in which Caribou Barbie would've made this decision or solved that crisis differently than the current president. Each of Prager's cases pivots on some right-wing chestnut, of course, which explains why he didn't say anything about Palin's demonstrated incapacity (beyond talking points and purely ideological matters) to understand remotely why she'd do what he believes she'd do.
He sums up his confession this way:
Prager is committed to two-party mediocrity, a mindless allegiance to the status quo that'll sink our nation -- but there is hope."So, it is time for us Americans to realize that the old days of choosing the better candidate are gone. ... We will have to vote by party.
"That's the bad news. The good news is that in almost no case is the choice between a more impressive Democrat and a less impressive Republican. The quality of most Republican candidates this election is the highest in post-war American history, Republican or Democrat. But even if it weren't, a Republican mediocrity would get my vote. My first concern is America's greatness, not the candidate's."
Today I was heartened by the findings of a Rasmussen survey of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters. Presented with four possible GOP nominees for president in 2012 -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Mayor of Wasilla Sarah Palin -- a significant percentage of respondents told Rasmussen that they'd consider a third-party candidate.
Now that's more like it.
According to Rasmussen, 24% of those surveyed said that they'd be at least somewhat likely to consider supporting a third-party candidate if Huckabee is the GOP nominee for president. For Gingrich the number was 27%, for Romney 28%.
Palin -- drum roll, please -- would inspire 31% of Republican voters to look for an alternative.
I'm not taking those numbers to the bank -- not two years out from the next presidential election, certainly, and not without a specific third-party candidate to consider. Still, it's encouraging.
Maybe independence has a chance after all.
