On Fred Thompson
At this time, I’m not ready to make any commitments as to who I will vote for in the next presidential election. I will say that I’m showing some serious interest in Fred Thompson.
Why am I interested?
1. He is a true federalist. He believes in limiting the authority of the federal government and a strong sense that certain issues are the sole domain of state governments to decide.
2. He isn’t afraid to be alone. While in the senate, there were several times when he was outvoted 99-1. You could argue that he was simply being contrarian or was unable to play along with the crowd (party), but I think they were, for the most part, principled stands.
3. He is for term limits for members of congress a well as the limitation of their pay. In today’s Washington Post it is written that
“And if McCain is acknowledged to be an energetic legislator, Thompson had few signature accomplishments. At times, he seemed not to enjoy politics and sometimes griped about the long hours in the Senate. When he decided against running for reelection in 2002, he told the Tennessean newspaper, “All kinds of opportunities are out there . . . without having someone else determine your schedule every day, and not have to sit around at 10 o’clock at night over some Senate resolution that shouldn’t be on the floor anyway.”"
I’m not really sure why this is a negative thing. George Washington didn’t want to be president either. I believe that we want people in office who really don’t want to be there, but feel drawn to it because think that, for a short time, they can do it better. The other reason people should be running for president or congress is they are called to serve by the people of their state or district. How many people serving in national offices today fit into one of these two categories?
I will be interested to see how Mr. Thompson proceeds with his potential candidacy. Even if he says and does all the right things, will I be able to vote for him? I’m not sure. I have a tendency not to believe anything that comes from people who label themselves Democrats or Republicans. For the past decade or so I’ve been voting for third party candidates whenever I can. I think the only way for the two major parties to get the message of dis-satisfaction that the country has with their performance is to vote them out. Who else has the strength to vote their beliefs vs. voting for someone who they think will win?
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