And Then There Were Ten....
Round 3: Carson vs. Rubio
And then there were ten. Seems like just yesterday social media exploded with the news of Cruze announcing his candidacy. That fervor was only slightly less when Rand Paul followed shortly after with his own announcement. The coverage of announcements has gotten less and less until on Monday (6-1-15), when Lindsey Graham announced his candidacy, no one really even batted an eye.
It’s my goal to examine each candidate individually (see Round 1, and Round 2). Good thing the election is still over a year away, we still just might have time to get through them all.
Both Marco Rubio and Ben Carson are very pro-life, which should be the first consideration when selecting a candidate. Government’s job is to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in that order. As the president, the head of our national government, it is their responsibility to stand up for life.
I’ll admit some major concern when Carson came out in support of Dr. Monica Wehby who was running for office in Oregon (get caught up here). I ardently disagree with his take on the matter. Right is right and wrong is wrong. He did state that Dr. Wehby’s belief was not his own, and that he personally believes that abortion is murder. However, pragmatism (or being “savvy”) is a dangerous road and one that a good leader shouldn’t be traveling.
Rubio has made his stance very clear, “The Right to Life is a fundamental one that trumps virtually any other right that I can imagine — Because without it, none of the other rights matter. There can be no Liberty without Life. There can be no Constitution without Life. There can be no nation without Life. And there can’t be other lives without Life.”
On the issue of liberty….with these two I’m afraid I have some concerns.
The first is regarding Carson on Second Amendment rights where he says that certain types of guns should be restricted in the city. He said this in a way that indicated it was his opinion and not necessarily something that he would attempt to make a law, however I still find it disconcerting.
Don’t get me wrong, I was as excited as anyone when I heard Carson’s speech at the Prayer Breakfast a couple years back. And I still believe that he is a good man with a lot of good ideas, ideas that this country desperately needs. But the question keeps resurfacing, does he have what it takes to become president? That remains to be seen.
Rubio stands in stark contrast to the gaffes that have hindered Carson’s short campaign. A past city commissioner, state representative, speaker of the Florida House, and current member of the U.S. Senate, Rubio definitely has experience. But does that come at a price?
Rubio was a Tea Party favorite when he was first elected. Since then however, he has dropped in favor with that group and many other conservative groups due to his waffling on the issue of immigration, reform, and citizenship. It is expected for opinions to evolve and change over time. If they don’t, it’s usually a sign of plain old stubbornness, because let’s face it, nobody's perfect and we can’t get everything right all the time. The problem is, Rubio has gone from pretty much one extreme to the other and then back.
Ben Carson is solid economically though. He believes in the free market, cutting government across the board, cutting taxes across the board, and he has actual plans, not just rhetoric.
Marco Rubio has a lot of good things to say on the matter, including simplifying the tax code, possibly down to a single flat tax. This is only a viable option however, if the government gets smaller instead of bigger.
We’ve got a lot of time left to get to know these candidates. Which is a good thing, because this coming election is going to be pivotal one for America and it behooves us to take this choice seriously, weigh all the options, and make an informed, educated choice.
Round 4 coming up next.
Jonathan Paine
@painefultruth76
painefultruth76.blogspot.com
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