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Jan. 8, 2009

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Arab regimes secretly rooting for Israel?

Larry Elder: Israelis and Palestinians: Who's David, Who's Goliath?

Jeff Jacoby: Yes, it's anti-Semitism

Jan. 7, 2009

Jonah Goldberg: Who are the real Nazis?

Anne Applebaum: Pointless Peace Proposals

Jan. 6, 2009

Caroline B. Glick: Iran's Gazan diversion?

Dennis Prager: Dissecting Dershowitz

Jan. 5, 2009

Mark Steyn: Gaza has its version of rocket scientists

Mona Charen: The So-called International Community

Jan. 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Having a holy tongue

Caroline B. Glick : Hamas' march to victory

Dec. 31, 2008

Dore Gold: Is Israel Using 'Disproportionate Force'?

Renee Enna:: Succulent 'stewp' is quick, easy fix

Dec. 30, 2008

Jonathan Mark: Israel's Response Is Disproportionate

Wesley Pruden: It's time once more to blame the Jews

Dec. 29, 2008

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Chanukah: 'Give me Judaism or give me death'

Michael B. Oren: A crisis and an opportunity

Dec. 26, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When the past meets the future

Caroline B. Glick: Iran and Hamas do Christmas

Dec. 24, 2008

Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Judaism's Santa problem

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman CHANUKAH FORK-FINGER FOOD FEAST

Dec. 23, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: Repeating failure in Gaza

Dec. 22, 2008

Rabbi Boruch Leff: Too many Jews today are missing the intended purpose of one of Judaism's most beloved holidays

Barry Rubin: Liar, liar, pants on cease-fire

Dec. 19, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Final Battlefield

Caroline B. Glick: Betting on a dead horse

Dec. 18, 2008

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Juicy Chef's hella top, hella bottom, hallelujah in the middle

Craig Crossman : More gifts for geeks --- and those who love them

Dec. 17, 2008

Dion Nissenbaum: Israel kicks out outrageously biased UN official

Craig Crossman : Gifts for geeks --- and those who love them

Dec. 16, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Gift of Joy

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Uncle Shariah

Dec. 15, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Expert witnesses who put themselves first

Barry Rubin: What they say isn't what you hear

Dec. 12, 2008

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Can the Bible be a secular language?

Caroline B. Glick: What a PM Netanyahu faces from Washington

Dec. 11, 2008

Rabbi Leiby Burnham: Our role in the Divine's global corporation, World Inc.

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: A retro-tasting pareve pot pie made with a light hand

Dec. 10, 2008

Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn: Groom admits he was caught "red handed"

Kara McGuire: No money for gifts? No problem

Dec. 9, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Can I make my boss treat me fairly?

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Next Steps in the Indo-Pakistani Crisis

Dec. 8, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: 'Chanukah Bush' flap and graciousness

Mark Steyn: Jews get killed, but Muslims feel vulnerable

Dec. 5, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Truth --- The Key to Gratitude

Jeff Jacoby: UN's obsession is grotesque and Orwellian

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Oct. 14, 2008 / 15 Tishrei 5769

The positive act of not voting

By Rod Dreher


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | All my life, I've cast votes in presidential elections that were votes against the Democrat rather than for the Republican. Such is life. Sure, the Dole '96 campaign had all the explosive excitement of road tripping to Dubuque in a Crown Victoria, but it wasn't hard to vote for the guy, considering the alternative. Voting in American presidential politics usually requires discerning voters to resolve not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough.


This year, though, I'm close to being done with that compromise. At the risk of scandalizing my high school civics teacher, this might be the first presidential and congressional election I've sat out on principle. As a character in Richard Linklater's film Slacker says, "Withdrawing in disgust is not the same as apathy."


A vote for Barack Obama is all but impossible. I am a pro-life social conservative, full stop. Mr. Obama is radically pro-choice, even voting against legislation that would have forced medical personnel to save the lives of babies born during botched abortions. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's spiritual son is disqualifyingly left-wing on social issues that matter most to me.


As for John McCain, his hot temper and bellicose foreign policy instincts are deeply troubling. America cannot afford the wars we have, much less new ones with Russia or any other nation. Worse, the executive branch has far more freedom to conduct foreign policy than it does domestic policy. And the more Gov. Sarah Palin shares her nitwit nostrums, the less confidence I have that she's capable of running the country if her elderly boss were abruptly retired by illness or death.


After eight years of GOP misrule from the White House, Republicans don't deserve to win again - especially if it's hard to see how a President McCain would differ meaningfully from the man he seeks to replace. But given the active role Democrats have played in the rolling financial catastrophe, from Clinton-era Wall Street deregulation to water carrying for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they don't deserve voters' trust either.


Mr. McCain is awful on war. Mr. Obama is awful on the sanctity of life. Neither inspires confidence on the economy, nor do their parties - both of which are up to their eyeballs in culpability for the present economic catastrophe. We all want change, but Mr. McCain is not credible on that front, and Mr. Obama only offers a fresh new gloss on tired, old Democratic boilerplate.


When neither candidate is tolerable, what does the responsible voter do? Withhold his vote, as a form of civic protest.


In 2004, leading Catholic philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre announced he would sit out the presidential vote because he rejected the Democrats' hostile stance toward unborn life and the Republicans' economic policies, which in his view undermined the stability of the traditional family. Dr. MacIntyre argued that not voting in a particular election is a morally just act of resistance to a system that presents us with an unacceptable choice.


Besides, what if Mr. McCain won, given the kind of campaign he has run? What will he have been elected to do, except to not associate with 1960s domestic terrorists and crazy-pants black preachers and, to paraphrase Tina Fey, find out what a maverick would do in a given situation and then do it? A McCain presidency would only delay what the shipwrecked conservative movement desperately needs to do: rethink, rebuild and relaunch in light of new realities.


Both parties have run the country into the ground, and I have no faith - none - in the leadership class in Washington. With any luck, the 2010 midterm elections will see true mavericks arise from the grassroots of both parties to challenge the incumbents. This year, though, voting in the presidential and congressional contests only gives voters the chance to affirm Washington's rent-seeking, self-serving status quo.


Granted, anything could happen between now and Election Day that would change my mind. But absent something extraordinary, I'm going to reject both the Republican and the Democrat.


Say what you will, but that will be the first presidential vote I've cast, so to speak, that I can truly believe in.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


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Rod Dreher is assistant editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum).

PREVIOUSLY

10/09/08: The speech John McCain should give
09/30/08: And it was written, our blame
09/22/08: The Beehive buzzes for Sarah Palin
09/08/08: Palin's a fighter — and worth fighting for
09/02/08: GOP slouches toward St. Paul
07/18/08:Wall-E’ Pixar's surprisingly political postmodern masterpiece
06/08/08: Era of cheap airfare is over
05/29/08: What if they're not smart enough?
05/11/08: From horror, a child's loving gift
05/07/08:Will a canary be our last meal?
04/03/08: Economic crisis is of our own making
02/14/08: What child-men need is some tradition
02/05/08: A Republican victory this year could do more long-term damage to the party than a loss
01/22/08: Putting faith in Obama: Do GOPers tempted by him know what they're supporting?
11/20/07: We can't fix the world with The Care Bear Stare
10/17/07: Every father should read this book to his son
10/03/07: Not even our parks are safe … And I lay at least part of the blame on the cultural revolution and our obsession with the individual
08/22/07: The Decalogue, dangerous? Advice for a society that cringes at commandments
08/15/07: Playing the anti-science card
08/01/07: How the U.S. can avoid its own version of the fall of the Roman empire
07/24/07: Conservative author: Big business can be as dangerous a threat as big government
07/09/07: All quiet but the doleful pleas of a father who knows
06/28/07: When we let conspiracy theory masquerade as news, we fall prey to much more than deception
06/20/07: Stranded on Delta: They may love to fly, but it certainly doesn't show
06/13/07: When did conservatism start to mean never having to say you're sorry?
05/08/07: PBS darling gets abused by PC police
05/02/07: Impervious to beauty and deadened to depravity
04/20/07: What I know about being a loner
10/28/05: How the conservatives crumble

© 2007, The Dallas Morning News, Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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