A Letter to Senator McCain

This is a letter I sent to Senator McCain's Campaign. Whether he read it, or takes heed, I don't know.

Senator John McCain:

My name is Daniel Krenzke. I am a registered Republican in the State of North Carolina. Born and raised in Wisconsin, I joined the Marine Corps in 1987 and served for ten years. I respect and thank you for your service in the US Navy and your trials in the war lost by our enemies at home. One does not achieve what you have by chance or luck. It is by skill, perseverance and the grace of God. Your victory in becoming the de facto nominee of our party is an accomplishment that will be remembered by historians for many years to come.

However, I write this to you to tell you I cannot in good conscience vote for you in the November general election, and I will not mark your name on the ballot merely to vote against the Democratic nominee, whether it is Senator Obama or Senator Clinton. I am a Reagan conservative. You ask me for loyalty that you have not shown our party. You claim that the differences between you and us conservatives are small. I strongly disagree. Those are the same differences that separate us from the socialist in the Democratic Party.

You voted to inhibit free speech through McCain-Feingold. Why should any individual or group be prohibited from printing or airing political ads for or against any candidate at any time? That is the core of Freedom of Speech. Why should any person or group be prohibited from giving any sum of money to any political group or candidate? That is the essence of the Freedom of Assembly as well as Speech. You violated your oath to uphold the US Constitution by your support and passage of this bad law. I equally blame President GW Bush for signing it into law and the US Supreme Court for upholding it. But, it is your name that you proudly attach to it that earns my ire. You never should have brought it to the floor of the Senate.

You voted to sacrifice our national sovereignty through Comprehensive Immigration Reform that you co-sponsored with Senator Kennedy. The general amnesty of 1986 came with a promise of vigorous enforcement of border and employment law. We never got the enforcement. You and our political enemies cobbled a piece of legislation together with no debate, no committee hearings, no openness with the same empty promises of enforcement. If you never enforced the first set of laws, then how can we trust you to enforce the second set? We can’t. That piece of legislation would have destroyed our party and our nation. Until the border is sealed and employment law is vigorously enforced we cannot not revisit any change in immigration law. I cannot trust you to do this.

You stand for the shackling our economy through the belief in unproven science by implementing dubious environmental regulation. Man-made global warming is a myth. While the climate of the world maybe changing, to think that it is caused by the daily activities of our lives is a philosophy of pure hubris. While I agree we need to be good stewards of what God has given us, we can and should use the resources we have to ensure the vibrancy of our economy. If we fall into the fallacies of the global warming prophets, we will find ourselves at the mercies of the rising economic powers of Asia, particularly the People’s Republic of China. They are not going to put the breaks on their economy by strangulating it with useless regulations. Why should we? As with so many other decisions you put political expediency over thoughtful, fact-based judgment.

On tax cuts, you sided with our political enemies and used their rhetoric in defense of your position. On judicial nominees, you sided with our political enemies to prevent many strict constructionist judges (in the mold of Thomas and Scalia) from being sat on the bench at the district and appellate level. On spending, while you have been consistent with core conservatism in your words and actions, you never bothered to capture the spotlight on this like you have on the issues of campaign financing, immigration reform, or climate change. For all I know it is done with calculation to manipulate the party’s conservative base.

On these major issues you have abandoned our party’s conservative philosophies and ideals. There was no compromise, only capitulation. There was no loyalty to party and country, only loyalty your own selfish ambitions. The only issue of major importance that we agree upon is the War against Islamo-fascism. It is the only issue that separates you and your Democratic opponents. And with your record of political pragmatism I would not be surprised if you were to abandon us on that issue too.

I have judged you on the whole of your record, not just on your words but by your actions. I find you wanting.

With your ascension as the leader of the Republican Party I find myself without a political home. I have been asked once too many times to compromise conviction for victory – a victory I never get to share in. Reagan left the Democrats, because they left him. I find myself leaving the Republicans, because they left me – and, unlike Reagan, I have no where to go to have my voice properly heard at the federal or state level of government. All I can do is stand back, allow the corruption of the political class to have its affect, and watch the country God has blessed me to be citizen of crumble to the ashes of history.

Enjoy your fame, fortune, and glory. It will be a fleeting moment never to be as sweet as it is now.

Yours in dissatisfaction,



Daniel W. Krenzke