Lesson for McCain’s ’08 voters: The lesser of two evils is still evil

People frequently tell me that they don’t really support either the Republican or Democratic candidate for president, but that they’re choosing the lesser of the two evils. That’s what conservatives tended to say in 2008 when they voted for the contemptible John McCain.

It’s true that Barack Obama hasn’t been great for people who love liberty, but it’s just as true that McCain would have been a disaster. Just look what he’s trying to do right now in the U.S. Senate.

McCain is pushing a bill that would give the president the power to snatch any American of his choosing and send him to a military prison for a military trial — just by claiming he’s a possible terrorist. That means if a president doesn’t like you or me or anyone else, all he has to do is tell the military to collect us and send us to Guantanamo or anywhere else of his choosing. On the floor of the Senate today, McCain is reacting angrily to efforts by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul to delete this insane clause.

This is the sort of thing we would expect in the sort of dictatorships that we’ve traditionally opposed. However you try to dress it up as being about national security, this bill is evil. And McCain is the biggest backer of the bill.

If you’re still at the place of backing the lesser of two evils, you have to ask yourself whether you’re ever going to find the courage to oppose evil — or at at least quit giving it moral sanction by going along with it. As long as the majority support evil people such as John McCain — or a long list of people who are willing to use coercion to force others to do what they want — they’re responsible for the evil we’re getting from the government that rules us with an ever-harder degree of control.

Supporting the lesser of evils is for weak people who don’t have the courage to stand for what’s right. Opposing the system and finding a way to escape it is the only moral choice.