Pat Guest is a young husband, father, Queen of Martyr's parishioner, small businessman, and until recently a Chicago Democrat and voting for John McCain. Pat and I had a gentlemanly disagreement during the 19th Ward Aldermanic election last year and proved himself to be an articulate, thoughtful and witty counterpoint to my more splenetic and tribally coded voicings.
Pat Guest established a wonderful Website 19th Ward Blog and today articulates the very powerful principles underlying a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin on Tuesday. Here's Pat Guest:
American Principles Under Attack
Surfing through the cable news channels last night I was struck by what I heard. There has been a steady escalation of attacks on fundamental American political institutions and principles. But recently, the liberal press (MSNBC predominately, followed by CNN, and excluding Fox which everyone understands to be a right-leaning network) has become increasingly bold and overt in attacking Capitalism and Conservatism. Rachel Maddow took the opportunity to declare the failure of Capitalism when Alan Greenspan testified before Congress and admitted that perhaps he had made mistakes. Socialism and Egalitarianism have become popular topics for the likes of Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann. Of course, they don’t use the word Socialism, but they are almost giddy when they proclaim the death of Free Market Capitalism, Federalism, and Conservatism. Our liberal friends have used the current capital crisis to promote extreme left-wing, anti-American philosophies. And, ashamedly, the current President is asleep at the wheel.
However, our current financial situation is not a result of the failure of an economic or political philosophy. At the root of the crisis is greed and criminal behavior on the part of CEOs and politicians of both political persuasions. People should be going to jail for lying to investors and manipulating financial figures. Where is the Congressional outrage? This is the same Congress that spent millions on investigating steroids in baseball. They even considered perjury charges against some of the baseball players that allegedly lied to Congress; how about investigating the criminals who lied to the American people and ignited the biggest financial catastrophe since the Great Depression. We have to remember that the two institutions in the eye of the financial hurricane are Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae – quasi governmental organizations. This is not a failure of Conservatism. Nor is it a failure of Capitalism, or as Barack Obama refers to it,”…a failed economic philosophy”.
Nationalization and Socialism are not the solution. We can only hope, that if Obama is elected, and the Congress is controlled by a Democratic super-majority, that the American people will see what lies beneath the left-wing liberal rhetoric and reject it.
Patrick D. Guest
Vote John McCain/Sarah Palin - for the reasons articulated by a very fine American - Pat Guest!
