welcome to the pup tent
Michele has buyer's remorse. Which is a shame; when Michele was still doing politics, I always liked what she had to say on the subject.
It's funny, because here's how she describes herself:
I’m a gay rights supporter who drives an SUV and is against gun control, who doesn’t believe in God, who is an un-P.C. person that hates the NEA, who thinks faith based initiatives are wrong and the government should stay out of our bedrooms, who is no longer so gung ho about things in Iraq
Now, I don't agree with her take on where the war has gone, but aside from that and perhaps some details, we're on the exact same page. And while I may not be solid Republican, I still consider myself solid right. Maybe not in the big tent, but hanging around the bonfire drinking beer out back.
One of the major complaints from center-right Bush voters is the religious takeover of the party. Whether this is true or not I don't know, and is immaterial anyway, because if the Republicans change from being seen as the party of hawkism and fiscal conservativism to the party of Jesus, they're going to lose a crap load of votes. Say hello to President Hillary.
The trick, which dosen't really seem to difficult to me, is to keep the religious right to vote R while tempting the libertarian/southpark/whatever voters. It's funny, becuase while the administration has made alot of noise about "Family rights" and "Faith initiatives", there really hasn't been much actually done about it. Has gay marriage laws, or abortion laws, or school prayer laws changed signifigantly at the federal level over the past five years? Not that I can tell.
And yet, they're being bashed as the party of Pat Robertson. It should be the opposite: do enough of the religious agenda to keep the Flanderses happy, go to church on Sunday and say God Bless when somebody sneezes, and other than that STFU about it. Talk about family-based initiatives, if you have to. Talk about sensible economic and foreign policy. Focus the public on the smart, real things that that Republicans stand for, and the God folks will come along.
Anyway. That's tangental. The point is that if the R's bet their whole political strategy on religion, they lose, and our evil genius Rove is too smart for that.
I don't really know what to say about her lessening of support for the war. I still think it was the right decision based on what we had going at the time. We're doing everything we can to end it as softly as possible. The bodycount climbs for both Americans and Iraqis, and there is nothing I would want more than for that to stop, but quitting before we're done is only going to cause more problems for us and especially for them.
So, what about all the other issues she mentions. Well, sadly, many of them don't have simple answers. Social Security. The deficit. The problems we continue to have in the ME. Gay Marriage. Education. Gun Control. Abortion. Etcetera etcetera. The ongoing problems of American politics.
When I look at those problems, I ask the same question I asked myself before the elections: Who is likely to fuck it up the least?
And I suppose that this is why I still consider myself a pretty solid right-winger. Because when I look at the Republican's solutions, they seem to range from pretty smart to pretty stupid. The Democrat's solutions, with a few (relatively minor, to me) exceptions, range from moderatly stupid to outright suicidal.
I think banning Gay Marriage is stupid. But I think banning firearms is even stupider. Prescription drug plan? Stupid. Full-on socialized medicine? Suicidal. Invading Iraq? Dangerous, and, at points, stupidly executed. Relying on the UN to solve the problem? Please, kill me now and spare me the trouble.
I used to think I was a Libertarian. Then I read what libertarianism is really all about, and ran screaming from the room. To use a phrase coined by "htom" in Michele's comments, I think from now on I'm going by "Rational Anarchist".
I don't seem to fit any of the labels, and I like it that way. But I still don't regret my vote last time around, despite the various stupidity that will assuredly ensue because of it. Abstaining to vote or voting third party is a cop out, in my book, because really there's only two choices, and of the two, I still think I made the right one. Not a perfect choice, but better than the alternative.
Screw the big tent. Those guys are friggin' boring anyway. Until they come out and try to make me sing "Kumbaya" around my bonfire, I'm just fine where I'm at, wherever the hell that actually is.
as usual, it's off the cuff and subject to editing later
