Cain departs...and so goes the Fair Tax

Well, there's one for the Democrat/Republican Establishment today with the suspension of Herman Cain's presidential campaign after continued assault and allegations of infidelity pervaded throughout the media. Cain dared to step off the Democrat plantation, and received a severe whipping via the politics of personal destruction for it.

However, he professed that "I am not going away," and that he will continue to be an advocate for conservatism...

(it felt appropriate to use the MSLSD footage)

I very much share the sentiments of American Spectator's Aaron Goldstein:

I watched Herman Cain's speech announcing the suspension of his presidential campaign filled with a mixture of sadness, anger and good cheer.

I am sad because it was plain to see that he made a decision he did not want to make.

I am angered because people who wanted Herman Cain out of the way got what they wanted.

But I also feel good cheer because Herman Cain holds his head up high as he picks up himself off the ground. Life goes on. There is a Plan B.

So now the next scene of this political play will be who Cain will endorse (again I find myself in agreement with Goldstein on this one, however unfortunate that might be) and whether his supporters will stick with that endorsement or seek refuge elsewhere (whispers of Bachmann or Perry abound).

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this, personally, is that as Cain departs, so goes another possibility of instituting the Fair Tax. If you remember, Mike Huckabee was the candidate during the last presidential race to endorse the Fair Tax and make it a part of his campaign platform; however, that was stifled from lack of effort to aggressively engage in the warfare of politics, among other concerns. This time around, it appears that the concerted effort to keep Cain's campaign off message has played out to its predictable conclusion.

I have no doubt that he will continue to advocate for his policies within both his 9-9-9 Plan and the Fair Tax, but I have little reason to believe any of the other candidates have the desire, nor the boldness, to completely scrap the current progressive tax code in favor of a single consumption tax that would broaden the base and finally bring real fairness and sanity to our system of taxation.  The wheels of the status quo roll on...closer to the edge.

ADDENDUM: Here's a heartfelt epilogue by the American Spectator's Robert Stacy McCain for the man with the plan.