I have to confess - I am pretty pessimistic at the moment.  Most of the pessimism comes from my gut feeling that us Republicans are going to get our asses handed to us this November, yet I think it is worse than that.  I actually think we deserve it.
 
Unlike many dear friends of mine, I am not pulling the idiotic card that says, "well, maybe an Obama victory will wake up the GOP and teach them to be better Republicans."  Bad Republicans are going to be bad Republicans in 2009 as well.  In fact, the RINO's that have infiltrated the Grand Ole' Party are likely to move closer to the middle if Obama wins, citing the "need for centrism to win elections."  No, the age-old strategy of losing, so that one can win later, is stupid, brainless, and likely devastating.  The jihadist war against America, which my Libertarian friends do not care about one iota, is not going to go on pause while Americans deal with the self-inflicted punishment of Barrack Obama.
 
But there is one issue that I would think all groups I have an affinity for would respond to.  By "all groups", I am referring to social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, national security hawks, professing Christians, Libertarians, and rich secular pigs.  And that is the issue of taxes.
 
I understand the argument that Obama may be good to wake up the GOP "base".  I also understand that there is a good chance that Obama will not allow a nuclear war to take place (my suspicion is that if the metaphorical sh**t were to hit the fan, he would do the same thing President Bush would do in a heartbeat, and call Messrs. Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. - the few men out there with the balls to save the world).  I suspect that the U.S. Supreme Court will be come an even worse disaster under an Obama Presidency, and it is sad that ignorant and shallow Christian voters can not see this.  But, there is one issue facing voters this election  that is black and white (no pun intended), and that is the issue of taxation.
 
Obama has promised to repeal Bush's income tax cuts on those making over $250,000.  McCain has promised to make the cuts permanent.  Mind you, we are talking about the difference between stealing 35% (at the marginal rate), and 39.6%, neither of which are very attractive, but it is an 11% difference nonetheless.  One would think that an 11% tax increase on the most productive, successful, charitable, active members of society would really wake up fiscal conservatives.  Of course, one would think that Libertarians would wake up as well, but since none of them have ever made $250,000, and their economic sophistication falls short of my three year old's, they seem to not care (Sorry, but I am mad, and sometimes when I get mad, I speak the truth).  While this tax issue may seem like a classic case of "soaking the rich", it is not.  No one hurts more than the middle class when people making over $250,000 suffer through an 11% marginal income hit.  People in that income bracket spend money, believe me.  They give to charity, I assure you.  They pay taxes, obviously.  And, they hire people.  That's right.  The 11% tax raise Obama is proposing will lead to higher unemployment.  Mark my words.  Milton Friedman said it better than Ayn Rand, but they both had this right:  If you ever want to soak the middle class, start above them.  The pain will "trickle down".
 
Obama wants to raise the capital gain tax rate from 15% (long term) to 25%, or even 28% ("whatever it takes").  When challenged by a socialist news commentator on national TV in front of God and everybody, Obama admitted "this is not about raising revenue; it is about fairness."  I am hopeful that Walter Mondale's campaign themes are still outside the mainstream, but Mondale was not an eloquent black guy talking about "hope" and "change".  Perhaps this rank class warfare is back in, but I doubt it.  And when middle class blue collar workers see their 401k accounts get rocked 25% by the most idiotic and immoral tax raise in modern history, perhaps that will wake some people up.  But in the meantime, for those with any kind of economic IQ and moral compass, can we please vote to keep the long term capital gain rate at 15%?
 
McCain wants to abolish the AMT.  Obama wants to "reform" it.  I vote for the former.  The so-called "Alternative Minimum Tax" is a despicable act of government theft, and there is no need to "reform" it.  They ought to stick it where the sun don't shine.  McCain is proposing to do such.  Bush didn't have the chutzpah to get this done. 
 
McCain wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.  Of course, corporations do not pay taxes.  The blue collar Americans who receive lower wages because of corporate taxes do.  And the disenfranchised consumers who were screwed by predatory mortgage brokers when they lied through their teeth about their income pay corporate taxes - it is called "higher prices".  This is Thomas Sowell 101, Milton Friedman 101, and for my Libertarian friends, even Murray Rothbard sees it this way.  To vote for a candidate who favors the despicable, anti-growth 35% corporate tax rate is to vote for legalized discrimination against consumers and low-income employees.  It is not about class warfare.  It is about economic literacy.
 
I am sorry that John McCain is not perfect.  I adore his hawkishness on foreign policy, even while I loathe his contempt for the first amendment evident in McCain-Feingold.  Judging by the enthusiasm (or lack thereof) I saw in the room the other night at the Orange County GOP Flag Day Dinner, I suspect most Republicans have already mailed this one in.  Obama is raising money three-to-one over McCain, and some Republicans are still bitching that McCain is nice to the global warming fruitcakes.
 
But if we do not pull it together, and quick, the embodiment of new left radicalism is going to win, and win big.  And with that win, you are going to pay, and pay big - regardless of your income bracket.
 
McCain in 08.  The only vote that makes sense for economically literate people.  My question is, after eight years of George Bush, are Republicans still worthy of that description?