2008 Presidential Candidates

Finding Out About the Candidates

It's pretty late into the candidate-selection season to be posting this, but I am finally getting around to doing so. My initial research into the candidates happened around Thanksgiving. I watched a Republican debate and liked only two of the candidates. At that time, I didn't register in my head the names of these candidates, only their positions on the stage and possibly their faces and voices. I grew somewhat apathetic towards the whole thing until I noticed a surplus of articles on Digg bashing Mike Huckabee.

After noticing this, I asked myself, "who is this Huckabee fellow, and why should I care?" I went on an Internet fact-finding mission. I found out that Huckabee was a God-fearing man, and that his political positions were, for the most part, in alignment with mine.

By this time, it was Christmas vacation. I began asking people close to me who they thought would make the best president. I didn't really get any definite answers. I would get answers along the lines of "someone else," or "I haven't looked into it." When I asked my dad, he said that he thought Alan Keyes was the best, but that Keyes didn't have a very good chance at winning.

Alan Keyes: The Best Man for the Job

At this, I did my research on Alan Keyes. I found Keyes to agree with Huckabee on many issues, but there were also disagreements. Keyes is the most conservative of the candidates. He is very strong on all the moral issues as well as all other issues. He is not afraid of being somewhat politically incorrect in expressing these views. After researching Keyes, I was fully convinced that he was -- and still is -- the best candidate for the White House.

There was only one thing on Alan Keyes's issues page that I initially disagreed with. As I started to read his argument for the importance of the family farm, I disagreed with what I was reading. I recalled the lessons I learned in my economics class last semester; economically speaking, family farms are of no benefit; large corporate farms would be more economically efficient. As I continued to read, however, Keyes acknowledged this and stated that family farms have an "indispensable value in sustaining our nation's strong moral character." I can agree with this point. I believe that one of the most threatening problems with this nation is its rapidly corroding respect for godly morals. If it hasn't been made clear, I believe that Alan Keyes is most certainly the best candidate for the presidency.

Mike Huckabee: A Strong Second

Sadly, Alan Keyes is greatly under-represented. In Iowa, his name wasn't even on the ballot! At some point in the near future, I fear that Keyes will find it impossible to win the Republican nomination. If he were to run as an independent, it would only serve to fracture the conservative vote and ensure that a Democrat won the election. (The Democrats have a frighteningly bad reputation with regard to moral issues.) Since Alan Keyes is basically out of the running based on the current state of things, this leaves me to fall back on the candidate I was initially interested in: Mike Huckabee. His positions on the issues are very solid and have not wavered throughout the campaign. One thing that differentiates Huckabee from your typical conservative candidate is his position on the environment. He asserts that we have not been good stewards of our environment, and that we need to do better. Now, this is all well and good with me until he decides to use my tax money to make it happen, or alternatively, to cause the prices of goods and services to go up due to government regulations on such things. Thankfully, this does not strike me as too-large of threat to deal with.

McCain would be a distant third choice for me, but my second choice is an order of magnitude better, and my first, an order of magnitude better that. Recently, with the exit of Romney from the scene, Dr. James Dobson gave a half-hearted endorsement of Mike Huckabee. At this point, I think that the best thing would be for Huckabee to win the Republican nomination, (which at this point is a stretch,) and for Alan Keyes to be on the ticket for Vice President.

The Democrats?

In choosing from the Democrats, it's a choice between the lesser of two evils. Because of his positions on the a few of the technological issues, I would prefer to have Obama as president over Hilary Clinton. In addition to this, the prospect of having Hilary Clinton as president is downright scary. The same is true with Obama, but to a slightly lesser degree. Strategically, I think Clinton would be easier to defeat in a general election as it would be easier to convince people to get out and vote specifically against her. This does lead to a conflict of interest; one would rather have the lesser of two evils on office, but the worse of the evils would be easier to defeat. I don't have a solution for this problem.

Conclusion

Alan Keyes is undeniably the best candidate. With him, you can have your cake and eat it too! Since Keyes doesn't really have a chance of winning, Huckabee comes in second as the best candidate with any chance of winning. On the Democrat side of the house, Obama is the lesser of two evils, but Hilary Clinton would be easier to defeat in an election.