Another good post on the mid-terms

This one from Andrew Medworth, especially worth reading is his reply in the comments, which starts out:

Thanks for your comment, and for linking to the SoloPassion debate. While many commenters make good and interesting points on it, some of the posts are very bad, involving sneering, name-calling and a few very fundamental misunderstandings of key philosophic concepts (”rationalism” and “concrete-bound” being two examples which spring to mind). These are not compatible with, nor are they a good advertisement for, Objectivism.

I must say I disagree with the idea that the Republicans are “jogging” towards tyranny, while the Democrats are “sprinting” towards it. The Democrats are not “sprinting” anywhere, especially not if they have nothing but small majorities in Congress. Bush will have veto power over any bill they could draft, and they will not have anything like the majority required to override that veto. And history shows that liberty does best when government is divided: some of the worst laws and the highest spending increases in American history have come under Republican government.

There is no question in my mind that a Democratic victory would improve the domestic policy scene in America - not much, but some. (And that is indeed a dire indictment of the Republicans.) The only question in my mind is over foreign policy: would a vote for the Democrats be a vote for retreat, surrender and defeat in the war against Islamic totalitarianism?

At present, my answer is no, at least not compared to a vote for the Republicans. I disagree with the assertion that the Republicans are “muddling through”, fighting a half-hearted war, and that this is better than the Democrats’ total lack of willingness to fight. The Democrats will certainly not fight the war properly. But the Republicans are actively aiding the enemy: they are fighting to establish the right of the Iraqis to vote in an Islamist, anti-American government which will be more dangerous to the United States than Saddam ever was.