Lost In the Woods of Politics:  

About 4 weeks ago I found myself lost in a forest of unappealing and uninteresting candidates for president for the Republican nomination. I had been at this point utterly with fed up stories of one candidate being called one name and other not, and vice-versa. Then the issue of not discussing actual issues or problems but, of the importance of the APPARENT flaw in their character that later came to be true not by pointing it out but, by constantly having the flaw talked about nightly over and over again, or just plain mudslinging and pointing out real flaws of the said candidates. More importantly I couldn’t find a top tier candidate that wasn’t spending time on attacking, pointing out the weakness of their opponents personal lives and, not talking about their own initiatives, policies and ideas. Hell, I was even considering not voting in the primary/caucus season. After all the personal wrangling I decide to in effect take a hike through the messy thick of the forest of candidates.

In this vast and thick forest I have found many varieties of candidates some a tall list of touted experience, connections, and name and financial power; and others that tower over me in areas like charisma, influence and apparent electablity like a giant sequoia. Like a well trained hiker I’ve been guiding my self home by looking through the thick of forest and getting to route or road to get home that way without getting stuck in the awesome scenery of such an immense forest. The urgency to get home to my core values and issues of what I want and believe in and finding a candidate was ever present in my analysis.

A candidate who is as strong as Redwood on Foreign Policy, Experience in government (without becoming part of the machine and negativity and do-nothing attitude of Washington) and Consistency (in positions time and time again), and last and most importantly on Fiscal Responsibility, and Bi-Partisanship (without compromising morals and position for the sake of public/political pacification) and willingness to get things done. Along those same lines those/one who have always seen the willingness to want to change America for the better not just in this election cycle or in the last year.

As I combed through the forest and after thinking I had found my way back the highway home. I would think I had made it but, I had only come upon another something kind obstruction or deceived into thinking I had found the road but, it was a impassible river or a cliff that looked like a road opening. Or worse the forest itself shifting in the wind almost every minute and making the appearance of a road or clearing but, only an extension of its endless and empty self. Finally I came of well interesting conclusion in that maybe what I’ve been looking for isn’t a new untested and unknown route but, a tried and true path that is open, accessible, and as clear as the night sky in middle of the Nevada desert. So in way I kind of guided my way home with the clear and fixed an never changing positions of the heavens.

I have come to the conclusion there’s no substitution for good old fashioned clarity, simplicity, and straight forward people. Those who are to willing tell you where they stand and why; best of all those won’t waver in face of unpopularity, or in an instant change positions out of fear and polls. That’s why after my long arduous journey through the woods I have found myself at the base camp of John McCain. A candidate made of the rugged individualism that is need to face the challenges of our time. At the same time one who does not dismiss them or discount them but, who sees the issue at heart in its totality and know how to deal with it without sugar coating its meaning. A man who’s record and integrity is as strong as Redwood, and his stances as clear as a day.