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I just wonder how many people feel like I do these days. I used to be pretty much a Republican. Not only did I vote for Reagan twice but I supported him with time and money. I still regard him as one of the best Presidents in the history of the country. But today I find myself more and more adrift. I have not left the Republican Party but it is doing a pretty good job of leaving me. But I am not about to cross the river and join the big government party either. I just wish I had another choice of a fiscally responsible (note I said responsible, not "conservative") party that was not into putting it's nose into the social issues or pushing their view of religion on the country. A party that, when looking at the nation's problems, will use pragmatic, educated and reasonable means to solve them or at least negate them. A party that, while it does not hate all government, at least will look at private sector solutions before automatically assuming that government has all the answers for every ill that faces the country. A leader that listens to different points of view and surrounds his/her self with people that have differing views so that the best decisions can be made. If you look at history, our best leaders were this type. They were not people that stepped into a 5 gallon bucket and dumped cement around their feet. They were people that walked toward the center and forged reason and compromise. When I see what the country has become today with extremist in charge of most of the government and the country sinking more and more as other nations rise above it, it shames me. It should you too. We need another party. I was hoping Bloomberg or somebody of a similar mind would step forward. I still have hope.
Bloomberg? The guy is a raving nannyist who cracked down on tobacco and used PI's to run out-of-state stings on gun shows and gun dealers. I am not partial to the religious right, but give me a religious right politician over a lefty nannyist any day. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011...gun-gun-seller
As to your main point, I agree but I am not hopeful. Activism takes a lot of time and money. So who has the incentive to spend time & money on it? Two groups mainly, as I see it 1) the parasite class looking to bleed the system; 2) the religious right who believe that God is watching them and wants them to be politically engaged.
The tea partiers are active and engaged right now, and that's great. But it's inherently tough to keep a movement like that going. I suppose if you get a Ronald Reagan on the scene, that helps a lot.
When people take responsibility for themselves as opposed to pointing fingers and don't exhibit the entitlement mentality we see far too often today we just might have a chance.
Both parties are ensuring the need for a third party everyday as it's
pretty obvious the track record of both speaks for itself, no morals, no respect, no sense of pride.
We were once taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
I just wonder how many people feel like I do these days. I used to be pretty much a Republican. Not only did I vote for Reagan twice but I supported him with time and money. I still regard him as one of the best Presidents in the history of the country. But today I find myself more and more adrift. I have not left the Republican Party but it is doing a pretty good job of leaving me. But I am not about to cross the river and join the big government party either. I just wish I had another choice of a fiscally responsible (note I said responsible, not "conservative") party that was not into putting it's nose into the social issues or pushing their view of religion on the country. A party that, when looking at the nation's problems, will use pragmatic, educated and reasonable means to solve them or at least negate them. A party that, while it does not hate all government, at least will look at private sector solutions before automatically assuming that government has all the answers for every ill that faces the country. A leader that listens to different points of view and surrounds his/her self with people that have differing views so that the best decisions can be made. If you look at history, our best leaders were this type. They were not people that stepped into a 5 gallon bucket and dumped cement around their feet. They were people that walked toward the center and forged reason and compromise. When I see what the country has become today with extremist in charge of most of the government and the country sinking more and more as other nations rise above it, it shames me. It should you too. We need another party. I was hoping Bloomberg or somebody of a similar mind would step forward. I still have hope.
My sentiments exactly. I remember the days of Jack Kemp and James Baker, these were educated, intellectually curious Republican power players. Today we have people like Grover Norquist and Michelle Bachmann setting the tempo for the party. With the economy in its current state, winning the White House should be easy for the Republicans, but they can't even field a candidate anyone feels excited about. If they loose this election, maybe then will they recognize the urgent need to massively reform and rebuild the party.
My sentiments exactly. I remember the days of Jack Kemp and James Baker, these were educated, intellectually curious Republican power players. Today we have people like Grover Norquist and Michelle Bachmann setting the tempo for the party. With the economy in its current state, winning the White House should be easy for the Republicans, but they can't even field a candidate anyone feels excited about. If they loose this election, maybe then will they recognize the urgent need to massively reform and rebuild the party.
Jack Kemp was one of my favorites. Wish we had about 1000 people like him.
I just wonder how many people feel like I do these days. I used to be pretty much a Republican. Not only did I vote for Reagan twice but I supported him with time and money. I still regard him as one of the best Presidents in the history of the country. But today I find myself more and more adrift. I have not left the Republican Party but it is doing a pretty good job of leaving me. But I am not about to cross the river and join the big government party either. I just wish I had another choice of a fiscally responsible (note I said responsible, not "conservative") party that was not into putting it's nose into the social issues or pushing their view of religion on the country. A party that, when looking at the nation's problems, will use pragmatic, educated and reasonable means to solve them or at least negate them. A party that, while it does not hate all government, at least will look at private sector solutions before automatically assuming that government has all the answers for every ill that faces the country. A leader that listens to different points of view and surrounds his/her self with people that have differing views so that the best decisions can be made. If you look at history, our best leaders were this type. They were not people that stepped into a 5 gallon bucket and dumped cement around their feet. They were people that walked toward the center and forged reason and compromise. When I see what the country has become today with extremist in charge of most of the government and the country sinking more and more as other nations rise above it, it shames me. It should you too. We need another party. I was hoping Bloomberg or somebody of a similar mind would step forward. I still have hope.
I certainly can relate to what you are saying. I am almost ashamed to be a Republican some days now. The party is such a mess we may not even be able to nominate a candidate that can beat Obama, much less one I would trust to run this country. I am a person of faith, but I do not want religion mixed in politics. It will never come to a good end when it happens. It's one of the reasons our forefathers came to this country. A political party should not be controlled or make decisions based on a particular religious ideology or other extreme views. It really seems to me that if the Republican party can't get it together this election, it may be headed for a split or a lot of people leaving it.
I have always been an Independent and have voted for both Republican and Democrat candidates in the past. Believe it or not there actually was a time when both parties produced quality candidates who would put country above party and who didn't look upon their fellow Americans as "the enemy." It was good to be able to choose the candidate you thought was a good choice rather than "the lesser of two evils" as we must do now. Why can we not understand that it has always been true that "a house divided amongst itself can not stand."
OP, I agree with you completely as well. I like fiscal conservatism, but abhor the religiously-based litmus test and downright mean-spiritedness that is GOP 2011. They are using RR's legacy by twisting it 180 degrees. Its insane, but it is the result of a Waco-ish cult, the Tea Party, having an oversized effect on these itty bitty straw polls (Oh, Joy, Cain got 112 votes-whoop de do, 21%), that are meaningless in less than 1 year. In some ways, I find BO term 2 less threatening than empowering this cult. They will face hell to pay within days of his re-election, from the REAL mainstream GOP.
I just wonder how many people feel like I do these days. I used to be pretty much a Republican. Not only did I vote for Reagan twice but I supported him with time and money. I still regard him as one of the best Presidents in the history of the country. But today I find myself more and more adrift. I have not left the Republican Party but it is doing a pretty good job of leaving me. But I am not about to cross the river and join the big government party either. I just wish I had another choice of a fiscally responsible (note I said responsible, not "conservative") party that was not into putting it's nose into the social issues or pushing their view of religion on the country. A party that, when looking at the nation's problems, will use pragmatic, educated and reasonable means to solve them or at least negate them. A party that, while it does not hate all government, at least will look at private sector solutions before automatically assuming that government has all the answers for every ill that faces the country. A leader that listens to different points of view and surrounds his/her self with people that have differing views so that the best decisions can be made. If you look at history, our best leaders were this type. They were not people that stepped into a 5 gallon bucket and dumped cement around their feet. They were people that walked toward the center and forged reason and compromise. When I see what the country has become today with extremist in charge of most of the government and the country sinking more and more as other nations rise above it, it shames me. It should you too. We need another party. I was hoping Bloomberg or somebody of a similar mind would step forward. I still have hope.
Nicely put. It seems the shouters at both political edges dominate the air waves, congress, and even these forums. You do a good job of pointing out what a very large share of us want. Intelligent people who realize they need information and flexibility to do their jobs, and that real leadership and integrity are far better than ideological purity. Yes, we are falling in relative position globally, both because we need to govern smarter (not ten agencies doing the same thing), and because the far right lives in a world constructed by ideologues who are chasing unicorns. Investment in our country has become socialism. No one in the history of the world has created a libertarian paradise where we allow the wealthy to accumulate untold power and they generously provide middle class jobs and a decent environment for all. We can incorporate some libertarian and conservative ideas, but the pure vision just does not work. Never has.
An independent party would be great, but it would need to be bankrolled by someone like Bloomberg or some other super well known person who could either buy air time or would be sufficiently well known to not need it. Interestingly, this might be the best time in our history for a third party, because the Republican Party has aggressively purged its moderates, and many current conservatives may prefer a party without moderates. I am sure a good middle party could carve off some Dems too. In our current climate, I think it would just put the Dems in the Whitehouse, unless it was a very, very appealing candidate, but perhaps with a large centrist element in congress we could nonetheless get something done. Anything would be better than the current circus.
Oh, and I am impressed by your honesty. Few on these forums seem to have much introspection. Refreshing.
My sentiments exactly. I remember the days of Jack Kemp and James Baker, these were educated, intellectually curious Republican power players. Today we have people like Grover Norquist and Michelle Bachmann setting the tempo for the party. With the economy in its current state, winning the White House should be easy for the Republicans, but they can't even field a candidate anyone feels excited about. If they loose this election, maybe then will they recognize the urgent need to massively reform and rebuild the party.
Funny thing is, I thought after Obama's win, they were going to do some reconstructing the Republican Party. But when the Tea Party arrived, and showed themselves to be an even more rigid and hypocritical incarnation of the Southeastern moral majority hard core white conservatives. You know, the group where more people believe in the Rapture than global warming, or who would rather listen to Glen Beck than Steven Hawking talk about science. It gets old to see that militant, intentionally ignorant group try to take over the country every couple years. I miss guys like Dole and Bush 1.
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