An interesting perspective: The conservative case for Barack Obama

They argue that Obama is a better choice than McCain for “true conservatives,” mainly because he’s the only remaining candidate who wants to immediately end the occupation of Iraq.

What also struck me while reading the article (it has in the past as well) is that Western politics, especially in the US, would be much more productive if the dialog was based on core principles. I’m not opposed to any of the conservative principles outlined by the articles author. However, when any of them are pushed to an extreme, as so often happens in US politics, then I would obviously be opposed. Perhaps this began as people started pushing for the extreme knowing they’d have to end up compromising. In any case, it’s evolved a very poisonous political atmosphere.

When is the last time our society had a true debate on an important social topic such as abortion? As long as I can remember the debate has consisted of “You are evil. We will fight against your position.” A perfect example of the lack of such debate is the almost overwhelmingly positive, shocked even, response to Obama’s recent speech. As Jon Stewart put it: “he’s talking to us as adults.”