Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Second 2008 Presidential Debate TONIGHT

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The second formal Presidential debate between Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) will be held tonight at 9pm EDT. This is the second of three scheduled general election debates between the two major-party candidates. Third-party candidates are excluded from participation.

Tonight’s debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville and will be moderated by former NBC Nightly News host Tom Brokaw.

I strongly recommend that all Americans watch this debate, as well as the single remaining Presidential debate between now and the November elections. For unfettered coverage, I recommend watching the debates on C-SPAN rather than any of the commercial broadcast and cable news outlets.

Endorsements Rescinded for Reconsideration (Updated)

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I hereby rescind for reconsideration any endorsement of any candidate who supported the socialist Wall St. bailout. This, unfortunately, includes essentially every endorsement I had made this year:

  • Senator John McCain (R-AZ), previously endorsed as my preferred Presidential candidate, voted in favor of the bailout in the Senate.
  • Former Governor Mark Warner (D-VA), previously endorsed as my preferred candidate for U.S. Senate from Virginia, has stated that he would have supported the bailout had he been in the Senate.
  • Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th), previously endorsed as my preferred candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia’s 10th District, voted in favor of the bailout in the House.

I will be reconsidering my choices in each of these races and will post new or revised endorsements as soon as possible. I am extraordinarily disappointed in each of these candidates; they have betrayed the constituents they claim to protect and, indeed, the very ideals of limited government and capitalist society.

Update 10/9/2008: I have re-posted my endorsements. While I have endorsed the same candidates I had originally, I have modified my reasoning and added caveats to each in light of their support for the socialist Wall St. bailout.

The Road to Socialism: Bailout Passes in Congress

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The 700 billion dollar Wall St. bailout package, derided by conservatives and liberals alike, has now passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 263-171. This follows its passage in the Senate on Wednesday by a 74-25 majority. President George W. Bush (R)—the supposed conservative who has been a tireless supporter of this garbage over the last two weeks—has now signed the bill into law.

I cannot conceive of why, in the face of overwhelming public opposition, our elected representatives chose to reward the very creators of this economic mess with an unconstitutional, socialist-style government intervention into the free market.

I single out my own delegation of elected ‘representatives’—Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th), Senator John Warner (R-VA), Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), and President Bush (R)—for personal derision. Each one of them voted in favor of and/or otherwise supported this ill-advised waste of money. I also single out our two leading presidential candidates, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) as well as vice presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), for their support as well.

If this is what happens when our two parties work together in a spirit of ‘bipartisanship’, then I’d prefer a return to the days of Washington gridlock. “The mystery of government,” said P.J. O’Rourke, “is not how it works, but how to make it stop.”

The politicians who voted ‘YEA’ on this bill have sold out their constituents and subscribed instead to an unprecedented socialist intervention. I hope you will show them who’s boss on election day. See the Senate results. See the House results.

2008 Vice Presidential Debate TONIGHT

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The only formal Vice Presidential debate scheduled between Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) will be held tonight at 9pm EDT. Third-party candidates are excluded from participation.

Tonight’s debate will be held at Washington University in St. Louis and will be moderated by PBS Washington Week host Gwen Ifill.

I strongly recommend that all Americans watch this debate, as well as the two remaining Presidential debates between now and the November elections. For unfettered coverage, I recommend watching the debates on C-SPAN rather than any of the commercial broadcast and cable news outlets.

Why We Should Kill the Bailout

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Forgive me for focusing nearly all of my posts over the last week on this singular issue, but it is possibly the most important issue our government has faced in some time. This socialist bailout must be stopped. Do not underestimate the potential negative impact of this kind of economic interventionism. It didn’t work in the Soviet Union, it didn’t work to get us out of the depression during Franklin Roosevelt’s (D) presidency, and it will not work now—on the contrary, it is much more likely to make things worse than to make them better.

This bill is an affront to all values of economic conservatism, not to mention blatantly unconstitutional and socialist in nature. Members of Congress who have voted in favor of this, particularly those of the Republican party who claim a desire to limit the power of government, have betrayed the American people.

If you want a more detailed, reasoned, and informative explanation of why you should oppose this bailout, check out Robert Tracinski’s wonderful article at Real Clear Politics. It explains with great accuracy the history of our current ‘crisis’, and how Congress’s and the President’s and the Federal Reserve’s interventionism thus far has served to exacerbate rather than prevent our economic instability. If you think this bailout plan will do anything different, you need to read up on some history.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.