George McGovern Dies

The Blaze has the story of former Senator and Presidential candidate George McGovern's death at age 90 here. The story is written by Madeleine Morganstern.

I have never agreed with George McGovern on political issues.  In fact, I vehemently disagreed.  McGovern was a Socialist and a Progressive, hiding in plain sight as a Democrat.  It was during the Democrat Convention in 1972 that McGovern welcomed the New Left into the party, and began the purge of the old conservative Democrats.  I voted for Nixon, not because he was the best Republican, but because he was the lesser of two evils.  I have always believed that not voting is a vote for whatever the majority chooses.  That is my view, and I understand the thinking of those who choose not to vote as a way of withholding their consent.  But those who do not vote have little right to complain because politicians don't do the right thing.

I met McGovern years later, after he was out of politics.  I had gone to work for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, and was tagged to take the coveted Capitol Hill course.  I can't recall now the exact name of the course, but it involved learning about how the government worked.  The number of people in the class was small, and George McGovern taught one of the sessions about how the Senate works, contrasting it with how the House operated.  McGovern was charming, friendly, and personable, something I did not expect.

McGovern was also a pilot during WWII, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying 35 missions in a B-24.  He deserved our respect for that service, but as a closet Socialist, he didn't deserve to be President, and I do not regret my vote for Nixon, though he proved to be a flawed candidate as well.