Downblog in the comments on my post on “Liberty and the Left”, Joshua Grimm writes that he
would like to see the political energies of conservatives directed more toward the local and state arenas. That would seem to comport more with our ideals of federalism, localism, and virtuous self-government than does our present obsession with DC. (Not that DC doesn’t matter; it does, but I think our balance is out-of-sync.)
This is of course entirely on the mark, and that as why – as is neatly entailed by I have said before – if Rod Dreher turns out to be right about John McCain’s Vice Presidential selection, the sound that is my head exploding may well be heard as far away as Baton Rouge. No Jindal worshiper, I, but the last thing Louisiana needs is to see its charismatic young governor strapped to the back of a losing campaign or – worse – shipped off to Washington for four or – even worse!! – eight years under Old Man McCain.
[ADDENDUM: Just as I go to press, I see that Daniel Larison has weighed in with some similar thoughts.]
Filed under: conservatism, politics
I agree (thanks for the reference, by the way). Charismatic and (apparently) competent politicians are hard to come by in today’s GOP, so we should conserve the ones left instead of (as you write) shipping them off to sink with “Old Man McCain.” And in Jindal’s case, that seems all the more morally imperative given the re-building that still needs to occur in Louisiana.
[...] religion Joshua Grimm, whose reflections on federalism and self-governance spurred my recent reaction to the (now thankfully squashed) JindalVeep rumors, has a thoughtful post that explains in [...]