A Great Piece!

Understanding Why Religious Conservatives Would Vote for Trump

By Andrew Walker
National Review Online

It’s a complicated situation for religious conservatives. But these are complicated times.
In January 2021, someone will take the presidential oath of office, and religious conservatives will undoubtedly play a crucial role in whom it will be. Their influence will be the focus of an untold number of postmortems, of the type they’ve been accustomed to hearing since 2016, when the notorious “81 percent” of evangelicals voted for the unlikeliest of candidates: Donald Trump. There are two competing interpretations of Trump’s enthusiastic support from religious conservatives: that it is a lesser-of-two-evils transaction based on self-interest, or that it shows a voting bloc compromised by every form of democratic vice, whether racism, nativism, or nationalism.

If trends hold, there will be a similar turnout in 2020. Rather than wait for the postmortem, I can tell you what will happen now: Millions of religious conservatives will approach their votes with a political realism that requires balancing undesirable tensions and conflicting realities. They will vote not so much for Donald Trump — with his uncouth speech and incessantly immature tweets — as they will vote against the worldview of the Democratic platform.

Christian Voting Calculus

With Lots More Flies

Culture and Politics - Politics
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 08 February 2012

Well, then, it is starting to look as though the Republican primary race might still be going on when they all get to Idaho. Santorum pulled off a hat trick last night, winning Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, taking a little sheen off of the Romney inevitability lustre.

There are four contenders left, two of whom I could vote for in good conscience (Santorum and Paul), and two of whom I couldn't (Romney and Gingrich). I say this knowing that either Romney or Gingrich would likely be way less destructive for the nation (in the short run) than Obama has been.

So why not vote for them then?

Unrepresentative Parliaments

When The Tail Wags the Dog

The principle of proportional representation has inherent merit.  It reflects a principle of justice.  In a democracy, government should reflect the will of the people collectively expressed as much as possible.  The diversity of "wills" should be represented to some degree in the deliberative and legislative chambers.

The principle becomes somewhat more necessary and compelling in a state where there is a unicameral parliament--such as we have in New Zealand, and where the executive branch of government is an extension of Parliament.  Checks and balances are rather thin on the ground in Aotearoa.