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Herman Cain skyrocketed on the scene.  It is surprising to see just how much support he has mustered in such a short period.  As with all of these so-called conservative presidential candidates, reservations to support them are present.   With Cain, the reservation lays in the aspect of his non-political background.  Granted, our nation’s commitment to political pedigree has fostered its own set of problems; but is it not true that much of President Obama’s gross incompetence can be directly attributed to his lack of true political experience?  What America has lost is its understanding of the cost of freedom; a cost that is today defined as risk.  To mitigate this risk, we pass legislation with the good intentions of protecting the people while stripping the people of the liberty; for their own good.

Truth be told, elected officials have as much knowledge of our founding documents as the people do.  It should come as no surprise when Cain could not differentiate between the preamble of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.  Last election we watched would-be Senators spar over who knew least about the 1st Amendment. (1)  Cain stated very truthfully, “We don’t need to rewrite the Constitution, we need to reread it.” (2)  Of course, he is correct in this assertion.  It is unfortunate that he went forward to intermingle the two.  “So, for the benefit for those that are not going to read it because they don’t want us to go by the Constitution, there’s a little section in there that talks about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (3)  Well no, there is not.  We live in a society where people can name more Kardashians than they can name Congressmen and Congresswomen.  For Cain to flub on the Constitution is par for the course.  He is representative of a civil ignorance that has become the norm.  We expect better, but do not first demonstrate that we are better.  Cain has appropriately fallen under criticism for this.  The problem is that most Americans would have never caught the error if it were not brought to their attention.  In the end, who can really fault Cain without first faulting the general lack of civil knowledge among the American populous?  However, a political figure must excel in areas where common knowledge is weak; legislation. 

Legislation can be very convoluted with the truly impacting aspects of a law often buried deep with within the amendments and referred laws.  Before opting to support or oppose a law, it is important to not only fully understand the law itself, but the factors that led to the law’s proposal.  Such is the case with the Patriot Act. (4)  The Patriot Act was rushed through following the tragic events of September 11th.  It was a liberty-robbing act of fear.  Fear induced by the lack of courage required to embrace freedom and liberty as they were intended to be.  America is at war and in this war, freedom is under attack.  Rather than acknowledge our enemy fully; we have sought to address them with a political correctness of denial while revoking liberty through cowardice.  The “good intentions” as it was previously referred to, is political correct talk for cowards acting like cowards.

Cain supports 90% of the Patriot Act and is willing to tolerate the remaining 10% because “Perfect legislation does not exist.” (5)  It is his view that compromising liberty in the sake of security is justifiable.  Again, Cain is representative of masses with a gross failure in understanding of the essence of liberty in both the cognitive and formative realities. 

An interesting aspect of this lies in the Liberals.  Liberals are very quick to criticize the Right for passing Patriot Act because of its liberty failing aspects.  However, it was Liberals who passed the 2010 Patriot Act extension and have led the charge in the 2011 extension. (6)  A position of such Left hypocrisy that many Democrat websites have pulled their criticisms of the Right. (7)  Yet, Cain, a Republican and self proclaimed Conservative supports the legislation, or at least 90% of it. 

Because Republicans passed a piece of legislation, does not mean Republicans or Conservatives should support it.  Those whom support the process of governmental control over individual liberty, or simply lack the courage to be considered true-blooded Americans support the Patriot Act.  When it comes to Cain, take your pick.  Either control seeking, or “well intended”; he is wrong.  So wrong that his position should force many on the Right to at least reconsider their early support while they take the needed time to establish what kind of politician Cain will actually make.  Rino comes to mind thus far.

Cain is just a bit too “text book” and mainstream Right. (8)  It is as if he checking off blocks on a list of things to say to garner the Conservative and now anti-Left vote. (9)  Speak of the Constitution and liberty.  Yet boldly support that which removes liberty.  With such contradictions, one cannot help yielding to reservations! 

The good news is that many on the Right, mostly Conservatives, have long since spoke out against the Patriot Act and Republican initiatives in general.  This was of course before being Conservative was understood.  Today, the Left has attempted to couple Conservatives and Republicans out of fear of Conservative political influences.   Many Republicans have fallen for this because Republicans have long since lost their Conservative values; hence the Tea Party.  Herman Cain has been called a “Tea Party favorite.” (10)  All he has really done is echo Republican buzzwords while attacking the obviously inherent weak leadership of Obama.  His redeeming quality?  Not being an already elected Republican whose leadership is of the same weak nature of the President’s.  Is that really worth so much Right support?

As Cain begins to delve into the depths of the presidential race, he will further expose himself for who and what he is.  This happened in 2008, yet as Americans became exposed to the Obama truth, they failed to adjust their delusion for reality.  This is not to say it will happen with Cain, but voters need be aware.  In vetting a non-political figure, certain precautions should be taken; I just do not see people taking them. 

When a person fails to support liberty, they are not worthy of the support from the free.

 References:

1. Johnson, Paul. Failing the First Amendment. Examiner.com. [Online] 10 29, 2010. [Cited: 06 02, 2011.] http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-phoenix/failing-the-first-amendment.

2. Kapur, Sahil. Herman Cain confuses Constitution with Declaration of Independence. Rawstory.com. [Online] 05 24, 2011. [Cited: 06 01, 2011.] http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/05/herman-cain-confuses-constitution-with-declaration-of-independence/.

3. N.A. Cain mistakes Declaration of Independence language for Constitution. Politifact.com. [Online] 05 21, 2011. [Cited: 06 01, 2011.] http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2011/may/25/herman-cain/cain-mistakes-declaration-independence-language-co/.

4. Congress, 109th. H.R.3199. Govtrack.us. [Online] 03 08, 2006. [Cited: 05 31, 2011.] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-3199.

5. Pye, Jason. Herman Cain would trade liberty for security. Unitedliberty.org. [Online] 05 25, 2011. [Cited: 05 25, 2100.] http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/8150-herman-cain-would-trade-liberty-for-security.

6. N.A. Patriot Act - Eight Years Later. reformethepatriotact.org. [Online] N.D. [Cited: 06 02, 2011.] http://www.reformthepatriotact.org/.

7. —. TalkLeft.com. [Online] N.D. [Cited: 06 02, 2011.] http://www.talkleft.com/archives/003737.html.

8. Herman Cain. Facebook.com. [Online] N.D. [Cited: 05 25, 2011.] http://www.facebook.com/THEHermanCain.

9. N.A. Herman Cain. Twitter.com. [Online] N.D. [Cited: 06 02, 2011.] http://twitter.com/#!/TheHermanCain.

10. HillBuzz. Herman Cain, Tea Party Favorite, Announces Presidential Bid. hillbuzz.org. [Online] 05 21, 2011. [Cited: 06 02, 2011.] http://hillbuzz.org/2011/05/21/herman-cain-tea-party-favorite-announces-presidential-bid/.