Why I can't support the Dems...

Part of what's written below was something I originally posted as a comment at Gun Toting Liberal.

Tomorrow is election day, and while I'm very dissatisfied with the current GOP control of Congress and the Presidency, I can't say I would be very satisfied with a Democratically controlled Congress. While it is true that I have less disagreement with the Democrats than I do the Republicans as a whole, there are positions held by sizeable portions of the Democratic Party that I strongly disagree with, such as gun control and increased taxation. I have no opinion with regards to healthcare as I don't know enough about it. But I do know that while each of their policies might be effective individually, combining them all at once will lead this country to disaster, economically and socially.

Democrats have spoken about creating a "new" New Deal for America... and maybe some of their intentions are good. But the real surefire way to send this nation into hell is to reinstitute the welfare state of the New Deal era on overdrive and with our current immigration policy. Few people realize that the reason the New Deal was even arguably effective was that it came a decade after the last time the immigration faucet was turned off. It was turned back on in the 1960s once again, though the effects of it weren’t felt for another 10-15 years. Lucky for us, Reagan came along when he did and a good bit of the government spending was cut, forcing people who would otherwise be on the dole to work.

The more socialist an economy, the more immigration is seen as a negative thing and the more racist a “native” population becomes. Comparing Germany and Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries offers a fine example of this with two similar sized countries. America was able to assimilate millions of eastern and southern Europeans precisely because they had to make it on their own.

The reason I’m not terribly concerned about our current immigration policy is that we’re not on a welfare-state apparatus that would totally wreck the system… not yet at least. As capitalist as I am (so capitalist that I want the 16th Amendment abolished), I don’t totally reject government intervention in an economy. There are cases where such intervention serves a purpose. However, so long as the Democrats as a whole advocate a big-government economic policy, they remain a threat to not only the nation’s economic well-being, but its social fabric as well.

By in large, hispanics and asians still have to work to get what they want, and enough of them succeed to provide inspiration for others who come from similar backgrounds. That’s what keeps the American Dream alive in their minds and what makes assimilation not only possible, but irresistable to most.

If you want a socio-economic system that’s headed for disaster because of immigration, look across the Atlantic. That’s what a sizable portion of the Democratic Party wants, unfortunately… and while I agree with the Democrats on most civil liberties issues (2A being the exception), if the socialist wing of their party gains too much prominence in deciding fiscal policy, the economy will go into the doghouse and social and ethnic tensions will soon follow. Good economic policy is good social policy, and the Democrats are not seeing the big picture. I cannot support them as a party until they change their ways.

I like to call myself a capitalist democrat, in the classical sense of the word “capitalist.” And maybe the Democratic Party is more friendly to small business. I've talked with business owners before and most of them have said that nothing much has changed despite Bush's tax cuts. It hasn't affected them. And this is pertinent information to me considering I'll probably be starting my own business soon after graduate school. This is probably the first election I will vote in where who gets into office will have tangible effect on my adult life, and while I certainly don't consider myself a Republican given the current framework of the GOP, I'm not really a Democrat either. I merely disagree with that party's overall policies less, and perhaps the main reason for that is that they are not in power right now. Who knows, I just might start loving the GOP if the Dems do win and stay in control for a few years.

We'll see...