Voting for Faith, Reason, and Heart
I have a favorite film about sports. It is entitled “Miracle.” It is about the miraculous 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. This young team of college lads clawed its way to the Gold Medal round, defeating the Swedes, the East Germans, the Czechs, the Finns, and most dramatically, the Soviet Union . Even knowing the outcome of the movie, I sit on the edge of my seat and cheer out loud [maybe you wouldn’t, but I do] for the unabashedly patriotic themes about competition, faith, and family. Kurt Russell is fantastic in the Role of Coach Herb Brooks [who sadly passed away just before the movie screened].
This ‘got me to thinkin’. The great uplifting Olympic victory, against all odds, happened when we needed a big lift. It happened during the disastrous Presidency that was Jimmy Carter. The Iranians had destroyed our Embassy and had taken hostages. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan
So, I have done a bit of reading, thinking, apologizing [in the argumentative sense] lately about Conservatism and I have a few thoughts about Newt Gingrich, Romney, Paul and Santorum. The first thought is that Party Nominations are to be earned, not bestowed. Santorum, Paul, Romney and Gingrich should contest this every step of the way. I am prepared to support the nominee even if I must hold my nose when voting, but for the sake of the American People, let this play out.
Newt Gingrich has this tendency to use historical example, but without a roadmap. He thereby later is often caricatured as a snake oil salesman or the Mad Hatter. He fails to explain his out-loud thinking in proper context. As an example: If I were to speak about Sherman and Grant, I would say that they were great generals and they certainly took Napoleon’s Mass War concepts to new levels, but they’ll have few fans here in the South. I would be certain to explain their greatness within historical context, and also contrast it with the greatness of Generals Lee and Jackson, and their war-fighting theories and practice. Statements require support.
I understand a context of greatness as regards FDR. I think I know what Gingrich was getting at when he praised FDR as a politician. I personally think FDR was a collectivist skunk, politically. But, it is also hard not to like a spunky, ebullient, wheelchair-bound President who, when asked where Doolittle’s planes launched from, said, “Shangri-La.” FDR also allowed his Admirals and Generals great leeway in waging war against the evils of Japanese Feudalist Imperialism and German National Socialism.
Still, one must then also criticize FDR’s his failure to act against the Nazi Death Camps, or his failure to recognize, as late as the Yalta Conference, that Josef Stalin was totally evil, and not “Uncle Joe.” [Yalta ’s outcomes essentially handed over Eastern Europe to almost 50 years of Soviet domination and Cold War conflict.] Gingrich may be just a bit too much like FDR in Liberal spirit and method, if not philosophy and leader consistency. Gingrich: Populist, yes, but a true conservative?... You judge.
I understand the importance, in a greater sense, of Newt suggesting a Moon Colony, but it is a knock-off of a Kennedy vision past with no funding possibilities, zero, leastwise at taxpayer expense. It becomes perhaps a worthy goal, once Obama-care is repealed and the debt is paid down. Also required: Americans must be re-trained in self-reliance, less materialism, and loving thy neighbor [especially the ones in the womb or the nursing home]. To be balanced, Romney has not exactly been full of vision for saving America
As for true fire in the belly, I would say look to Rick Santorum, or even to 76-year-old Ron Paul. You must respect their passion and genuine love of country and family first. They display it unpretentiously. I do not like to see family used as props, nor do I like to see vainglorious posturing by those who want to be President ... just so they can be President. Gingrich and Romney both strike me in this fashion. Romney seems to disappear when you take away his resume; you must look hard to find anything beyond business there.
Gingrich seems to disappear if you look deeper into his resume and behaviors; then you must search for where he went. Mind you, I do not discount the possibilities of earnest repentance and redemption, nor do I discount the possibility of political growth, evolution, and change of mind on key moral and political issues by either Romney or Gingrich, but I simply do not discern “genuine” in either man. I know I am on sound ground here because my wife agrees ... and she is always right!
I see a continuation of the GOP primary battle overall as a good process. This may all come down to a brokered convention with many ballots. We could even see a surprise ... like a Draft Palin movement. However it turns out, it will be an opportunity to roar out of that convention with a full head of steam and a solid platform. Look out, Obama!
Conscience is a nagging thing. If Rick Perry’s name is still on the Florida
Most importantly, I am setting aside my desires and wants here and I am trusting in God. If God is with us, after all, who can be against us. I believe in miracles.
William R. Mann, is a retired Lt. Colonel, US Army. He is a now a political observer, analyst, activist and writer for Conservative causes. He was educated at West Point [Bachelor of Science, 1971 ]and the Naval Postgraduate School Pensacola , Florida
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