Doug Wilson on Elections

www.dougwils.com

Choosing Between a Real Enemy or a False Friend

Topic: Politics

Tomorrow is super-sized Tuesday, or whatever it is they call it. A discussion in a recent comments thread has asked why I would be unwilling to vote for Romney or McCain in the general election if they were running against Obama or Hillary, why I would "throw my vote away" by voting for an obscure third-party candidate, or writing someone's name in. Here is why:

Whenever the radical agenda or the slow encroachment of the state are advanced by the liberals, a large number of conservatives oppose them, sometimes effectively. When we elect the kind of "conservatives" who are just methodical, plodding liberals, this has the effect to consolidating and sealing the previous advances of the radical agenda. A good example of this is the issue of women in combat, something that Scripture calls an abomination (Dt. 22:5). This used to be controversial just ten years ago, and it was the Bush administration that settled the issue, putting it beyond our reach.

Conservatives will occasionally revolt against something when the establishment overreaches, as with the Harriet Miers nomination. But that incident was striking precisely because it was so rare.

The issue of abortion matters to me more than any other single issue. It is at the top, and I grant that if the Democrat gets in it will be a lead-pipe-cinch that we will not get another Scalia or Thomas on the court. If McCain or Romney is elected (Romney more than McCain), I grant that we might. But I am not a single-issue voter -- although I do believe in the hegemony of certain key issues, the pro-life thing being one of them.

The fact that I will not vote for McCain or Romney has to do with my judgment (which could certainly be in error) that the effect of their election will be to consolidate and institutionalize some of the central problems in our culture, and that this will happen to even a greater degree than if we get a liberal president. In short, I would rather have a real enemy than a false savior.