Penn Jillette offers some interesting commentary on the campaign.
The idea, especially from the Democrats that I know, is, we just get a
smarter guy in the White House, and all the problems will go away.
We'll have smart speeches, smart high gas prices, smart bad economy,
smart war on terrorism, smart war on drugs, smart hurricanes, smart
global warming, smart war in Georgia -- smart, smart, smart...
We need someone stupid enough to understand that the president of
the United States can't solve many problems without taking away freedom
and therefore shouldn't try. The only reason John McCain
scares me a little less is because I think he's a little less likely to
win. They both promise a government that will watch over us, and I
don't like that.
I don't want anyone as president who promises
to take care of me. I may be stupid, but I want a chance to try to be a
grown-up and take care of my family. Freedom means the freedom to be
stupid, and that's what I want. I don't want anyone to feel my pain or
tell me to ask what we can do for our country, or give us all money and
take care of us.
I think Penn is being a bit facitious when he says "Who needs a good leader?", but his comments on personal liberty are right on the money.
I mentioned a short time ago that I have an internal battle brewing between my less government, free-market instincts and, well, the other side of me. It's eating me alive. Again, I end up in the middle - If I was to make a platform of my own political strategy, I guarantee it would line up 50/50 with the Republican and Democratic platforms. That's really a shame; maybe a little weak, but I'll keep chopping away.