Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

I'm not way over on the right edge on all issues. I've said that before. I lean more towards the Tea Party on fiscal issues, although I think their efforts to get from point A to point B too quickly could be disastrous for the country. But which of the current GOP candidates come closest to my beliefs? They're all critical of President Obama, with some justification. But what do they propose that's better? They all pander to voters with proposals of tax cuts. Not one has proposed to cut the entitlement programs so popular with voters, at least not with any specificity. They're all critical of the inability of Congress to cut spending and begin to balance the budget. But any clear-thinking person can see that the GOP was in control when most of the deficits and national debt was created. Now, even with the failure of Congress and the super committee to arrive at any fiscal proposals, the senator often mentioned as a VP candidate has said he'd lead the effort to overturn the formulaic cuts to the defense budget, with no concern over the deficit increases that would result. Not one of the candidates wrestling to demonstrate which is more fiscally conservative than the next has demonstrated--to me at least--that they've done the arithmetic which is necessary to underly a comprehensive fiscal plan for the country.

I've said I lean left on social issues. All of the GOP candidates are a long way from where I am on major social issues. With the backdrop of the sadly inadequate competitive performance of American kids on standardized tests, one candidate wants to simply eliminate both federal and state departments administering the education programs of U.S. kids. The other candidates are silent on the issue.

All the GOP candidates have pledged to eliminate the legislation they critically call ObamaCare. But none of them have any meaningful proposals on how to reverse the trends of dramatically increasing healthcare costs and declining quality of healthcare results. Oh, I'm sorry--they all say that the private sector can solve the problem. But wasn't it that same private sector that got us into this healthcare conundrum?

The candidates are all bitterly critical of President Obama's foreign policy, most recently with regard to Iran and Israel. They all say we must support Israel more aggressively. What does that mean? Are they suggesting that the U.S. mounts an unprovoked attack on Iran? That we start another war? That the president do so without any kind of national debate? None has cited specific actions they would take if they were POTUS. And in fact, the last unsuccessful GOP candidate for president is openly proposing that we attack yet another Middle Eastern country, presumably without Congressional debate or approval. It appears to me that the country was extremely fortunate to have escaped the election of this narrow-minded senator.

All the GOP candidates have been critical of the current administration's immigration policies. "Amnesty" is the bitter criticism leveled at Obama's policies. But none of the GOP candidates except Newt Gingrich has presented any alternative approaches.

Most recently, not a single GOP candidate would say what most people believe about the disgusting statements made by a conservative radio entertainer. In fact, some of the candidates have defended the vile statements made and tried to politicize a patently disgusting set of public statements.

I don't really expect to discover a conservative candidate that will completely embrace all my beliefs. I'd be happy if any of them embraced at least most of what I believe. But I must admit that I'm having trouble finding even one of them that represents even close to most of my beliefs.

I'm struggling to discover a conservative candidate, most of whose policies and promises I can embrace. I really don't want to vote for the incumbent president. But I'm really having problems finding one I can enthusiastically support.

Am I alone?