Anchorage Daily News

I am close to voting for the first time in my life for a Democrat for president.

What do I think will happen if Barack Obama is elected president?

He will tie the hands of our country's job creators with higher taxes and anti-business legislation. The lost jobs will create more dependents on government. Democrats like it when they can add more government dependents. It grows their base.

Obama will push us toward socialized medicine, turning the greatest health care system in the history of the world into one with longer lines, fewer choices and incompetent care.

Obama will appoint activist judges leading to a redefinition of marriage, an end to abortion restrictions like parental consent laws imposed by states and permission for gays to openly serve in the military.

The evil that exists in the world will test Obama, and since he is practically a pacifist, I suspect he will fail that test. We will be weakened greatly as a nation, much as we were under Jimmy Carter.

So why, you ask, would I possibly vote for Barack Obama?

What's my alternative? A candidate who is almost as liberal as Obama.

See Sen. John McCain's bailout plan. A candidate who is so lacking in judgment that he would risk putting the free world into the incapable hands of the woefully unqualified Sarah Palin. A candidate who would severely damage the conservative movement by governing as a liberal while having an "R" in front of his name. See Richard Nixon.

It seems to me conservatism has turned from a movement to a racket. We no longer stand for smaller government. See bailout. Government is bigger now than it's ever been. It's growing at a faster pace now than ever before.

We no longer care about the rule of law. See wide open borders and free benefits for those breaking into our country.

And what about the issue of life? The majority of Supreme Court justices now sitting on the bench have been appointed by Republican presidents, and where are we on ending abortion? Not far. Not far at all.

Conservatives have been in charge and what have we accomplished? Not much. Not much at all.

The Republican Party where most conservatives reside is a damaged brand. Rightly so.

Bottom line, we need a revolution. We need to restore a zeal for honesty and integrity among conservatives. Look at all the Republicans trying desperately to cover up the sins of Gov. Sarah Palin. What's conservative about that?

My view is, the only hope for this nation to return to a people of self- sufficiency, self-reliance, and self-determination will come through the conservative movement.

But we have become lazy and complacent. Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to motivate us to pick ourselves up and fight for what we believe in. No one is more capable of bringing us to rock bottom quicker than Barack Obama.

Maybe under Obama the American people will realize as they did after Carter that liberalism only works on paper. They'll be able to draw the distinction between the entitlement culture, socialism and pacifism, and the ideas of personal responsibility, hard work and freedom.

If McCain is elected I fear we will continue that slow creep toward socialism. But with Obama we will run toward it and begin to see the devastating effects of it much sooner.

The danger of all this is Obama will create so many new government dependents it may be too late to reverse the trend. Those who take will outnumber those who earn and pay. I hope not.

Jimmy Carter was our last committed socialist and passivist president. (Bill Clinton was all about approval ratings and pleasing the ladies.) Carter's policies led to Ronald Reagan. Reagan set back the cause of evil an entire generation and he turned our country in a direction that has led to the prosperity we've enjoyed the past 20 years.

Barack Obama is wrong when he promises change. Obama will just bring more socialism. But he'll bring it much quicker than McCain.

Just like in the late '70s, Americans will once again see socialism up close. My hope is once again they won't like what they see.

Dan Fagan is a radio talk show host on KFQD, 750 AM. E-mail Dan at faganreport@me.com.

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