I’m not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but it sure seems pretty weird that John McCain has an advisor who thinks (probably correctly) that a terrorist attack would drive paranoid voters to take shelter under his hawkish, Republican wings in November and now he is claiming that he’ll not leap ahead of Barack Obama until 48 hours before election day. Recall that John Kerry thought Osama bin Laden’s video release days before the 2004 election cost him the presidency. He was probably right. This is all just a specific application of the old “October surprise” concept, but far more insidious. What exactly does John McCain know?

Now that we’re embroiled in this “war on terror,” vast swaths of the American public have transformed into paranoia-addled, gullible sheep who believe that trading their rights for “security” is an act of patriotism. But look, if you want “security,” then you should start looking for unicorns, bigfoot, and mermaids, too. Do you want to live in a safer world? Then stop voting for people who will perpetuate failed wars, failed energy policies, and failed ideologies. There is no such thing as security, but you can avoid promoting insecurity. And I’ll tell you what, John McCain is not your man for that job:

• His idea of intelligent energy policy is to keep on chugging oil— just domestic instead of foreign—which is like a smoker talking about “cutting back.” Right.
• He seems to think the war in Iraq is a good idea, even though it has failed to achieve its alleged goal of reducing terrorism. The idea that Americans fighting in Iraq will make us safer is sort of like the idea that driving a huge SUV will make you safer—yeah, you’ll be safer at the expense of everybody else being less safe.
• Either he is extremely cynical or he doesn’t understand how the law works. One minute he says “that the rules we have agreed to live by are those made by the people themselves, not a small elite that claims to be wiser than everybody else,” so “the role of judges is not to impose their own view as to the best policy choices for society.” But the next minute he says “that shaping the judiciary through the appointment power is one of the most important and solemn responsibilities a President has.” Wait, huh? So the President isn’t a “small elite,” but the federal judiciary is?

These are not the kind of ideas that will make our society happier, healthier, safer, or wealthier. These are the kind of ideas that will just dig us deeper into our economic hole, our foreign relations failure, and our needless social infighting. These ideas, translated into policy, will not move us forward as a nation.