Why the GOP?

Trevor's post of September 23, asks a question I've been hearing a lot inside the Beltway, why support the GOP if our leaders are going to be as profligate with spending as our Democratic counterparts? Two words: John Roberts.

My work in the political arena is focused on combatting judicial activism, and while there is no guarantee that John Roberts will be a conservative's dreamboat justice -- i.e. overturning Roe v. Wade, limiting the scope of the commerce and police powers, etc., when Roberts said in his opening statement that he believes "Judges are like umpires...Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them," he gave the proverbial middle finger to judges who believe it is their role to make law, and to throw aside the laws that the people's representatives in the Congress and state legislatures worked hard to pass.

While I share Trevor's and Dan Miller's angst about the GOP's spending, I also know that all other things being equal, a President Kerry would have appointed a pitcher, not an umpire to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist on the Supreme Court.