My third post of this blog is two more than I ever planned on doing, but the last of what I anticipate for quite some time. The first, Define Loyalty, was my rationale for not supporting my party's candidate in 2008, and really marked the beginning of what I consider to be a long term strategy to correct the course of aimless and wayward Republicanism that has become unidentifiable and, to a degree, coreless. The second, It Is Us, served as my pre-results Election Day call and a tribute to the historic victory of now President-Elect Obama, paying hommage to the egalitarian principles our founding framework provided mankind along the way. This entry is to address the state of and direction for the GOP.
2008 marks the second consecutive election where the Republicans got hammered for their inadequacies, misdeeds, and failures; this time giving up the White House along with the Senate, while the Democrat tail lights in the House of Representatives have gotten even further away. It's no mystery what went wrong. While it remains categorically true that President Bush has gotten a bad wrap, it also remains true that he came to power by running on popular unity, smaller, more efficient government (low taxes, fiscal restraint), and anti-nation-building, yet presided over the largest expanse of government and chalked up it's highest expense report also, with menu items being things like nation-building, bank bailouts galore, creation of a new, redundant bureaucracy, and new entitlements at a time when entitlement reform is what's needed. In other words (George Will's), Bush came into the Oval Office a social conservative and left as conservative socialist. We are where we are--totally out of national power--simply because we governed the opposite of what we were elected to do.
The task now is to assemble a sound recovery. Looking solely at our party, we have a bit of a rift between two important factions. The Fiscal Wing and the Culturalist Wing have clashed before, and this year's primary reintroduced their friction for all to see. The cultural conservative validty of an Fiscal candidate was questioned by a Culturalist, whose fiscal record was anything but conservative. Obviously I'm talking about Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Romney's mormon religion was repeatedly brought up in some covert ways and amplified by some overt media coverage. In the horserace days of the Republican primary, no candidate got as many negative stories about himself or as many attacking DNC press releases than Mitt Romney. Clearly he was the most feared candidate we had. Well, the perfect storm of Mike Huckabee dividing social conservatives from Romney diluted him enough to stick us with John McCain, who we denied as our candidate so many times before, thanks also in part to crossover voters in open primaries.
All Repulblicans must ask how to solve this divide amongst us. We cannot be a party at odds with one another, or else we'll have a re-run of this year. We cannot also be hypocritical like we have been the past 5 years, and most importantly we cannot be exclusionary and derisive with each other when we're locked in a 2-party struggle for the hearts and minds of people who may have opinions that differ far greatly than what ours do. How can we expect to grow our ranks if outsiders and fence-sitters observe all this in-fighting at such personal and fundamental levels?
We need a return of pragmatism. Obama wasn't the most pragmatic candidate of 2008, but he sold it best, and honestly, he is more pragmatic than John McCain--he's emotional and ruled pretty much by his id. But nevermind this. We should be focused on actually sticking beside our principles. That is, achieving peace & prosperity by way of promoting free trade; maintaining the strongest military yet adhering to a non-interventionalist foreign policy; and yes, upholding the highest moral standards and ethical behavior but by example and reason, not claim, cultural identity, and certainly not by preaching down to others who have fallen short, or who are different. The point of any political or philosophical debate is to win converts to your viewpoint. To convince. Persuasion doesn't work by being abrasive and combative. Especially when the loudest family values voices have shortcomings and failures in their own households. Nothing will turn peole off and tune them out more than a simple display of grand hypocrisy.
If Obama can govern as a pragmatic centrist, then he should be hard to defeat in four years. It's hard enough to defeat an incumbent, and Obama would have to do pretty bad in order to be yanked off the stage given the state of affairs the nation is experiencing presently, and I'm not so sure he could pull that off. The potential to exacerbate our problems is there given his ideology and campaign promises, but odds are he will stay middle-of-the-road since that is the only way he can be popular, and being popular is the best way to win a second term, and winning the second term is the only way to parlay his historic election into being a historical figure. That said, we will waste 4 years and lose even more embarassingly if all we do is advance the exclusionary, emotional Culturalist voices of our party to the forefront in a society and planet that is increasingly diverse yet collegial.
The Republicans did well under Reagan by being inclusive and talking about opportunity for all. Obama has used opportunity (hope/change) to correct the Democrats' problem of turning off sensible voters by catering to all sorts of fringe groups, and so now it looks inclusive. We all know that Democrats will always end up being exclusionary in vision, in that if you disagree with their principles, you're either intolerant or something else, but you're not a Democrat. Republicans are a coaltion party too, but one built on commonalities of value-oriented people and fiscal conservatives. The Moral Majority is a great example of a religious or cultural effort to unite value voters regardless of their religious affiliation. In 2008, Mike Huckabee wielded religious bigotry to undo the good work the Moral Majority had been achieving. If that's what we're going to be doing again for the next four years, to ourselves, then there's no way we're going to win, no way we're going to be as close to Obama as McCain was despite his being so far away. Because if value voters are at odds within the party with which they have so much in common, then why would other voters even take a look?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
It is us.
I'm calling this race early and jumping ahead of the curve in what is sure to be a historic and very emotional night.
First, the race. I expect Obama to collect between 311-349 electoral votes, handily winning the election. Speficially, I semi-abstractly named 322 as his final tally. I think I even awarded him 51% of the popular vote and I think he could get as high as 53%.
Second, the response. We are about to witness not just American but world history. As much bitching & moaning about our government and our nation and its imperfections go around, it's now important to treat it and our founders with unparalleled respect and undue gratitude because we are the youngest nation yet have the oldest-standing government. We were born of revolutionaries and luminaries alike and carefully crafted to be mankind's rightful, egalitarian land that provided opportunity for all, barriers for none. We certainly haven't been perfect and we've certainly stumbled along the way, but we remain the model and the hope of the world.
Regardless of how Barack Obama may govern and how partisan some of his agenda may be, his victory is not only a symbolic link to Dr. Martin Luther King's dream & legacy, but a testament to all the sacrifice & tragedy, hard work & triumph that has always made America unique and great. For all the centuries of supposed European refinement, it is us who have freely elected an ethnic minority whose brethren were once enslaved by the nation that soon will call him President. It is us who have once again broken the mold and set a new standard. Renewed our spirit, freshened our blood.
We'll have our disagreements going forward just as we have had at any other point. People like me may not have voted-for but neither did we vote-against Obama. Sure, we've done so from the perspective that our side has become inadequate and in need of repair and so we are hopeful that Obama truly turns out being about advancing Opportunity & Optimism (see Reagan, JFK) moreso than he is about fostering Change (to eurocentric government models that ironically represent barriers to opportunity-for-all that permitted Obama to achieve his place in America), but we see a reasonable guy who can be worked with to improve the affairs of our nation and the lives of its people.
So through the thick & thin and no matter what happens, there's nothing that can ever take away this historic achievement and what it means both symbolically and tangibly for our nation, our world, and our human experience as we head into the next century of civilisation. And none of us should ever forget nor neglect to recognize that the fabric of America is truly the land of opportunity and Earth's greatest hope.
Cheers to you, President-Elect Obama. As I work to help my Republican party recapture its positive attributes, principles, and essence that complement society and our nation, I will be pulling for you as any President deserves all Americans' consideration and fair judgement--so don't get all euroliberal about things.
First, the race. I expect Obama to collect between 311-349 electoral votes, handily winning the election. Speficially, I semi-abstractly named 322 as his final tally. I think I even awarded him 51% of the popular vote and I think he could get as high as 53%.
Second, the response. We are about to witness not just American but world history. As much bitching & moaning about our government and our nation and its imperfections go around, it's now important to treat it and our founders with unparalleled respect and undue gratitude because we are the youngest nation yet have the oldest-standing government. We were born of revolutionaries and luminaries alike and carefully crafted to be mankind's rightful, egalitarian land that provided opportunity for all, barriers for none. We certainly haven't been perfect and we've certainly stumbled along the way, but we remain the model and the hope of the world.
Regardless of how Barack Obama may govern and how partisan some of his agenda may be, his victory is not only a symbolic link to Dr. Martin Luther King's dream & legacy, but a testament to all the sacrifice & tragedy, hard work & triumph that has always made America unique and great. For all the centuries of supposed European refinement, it is us who have freely elected an ethnic minority whose brethren were once enslaved by the nation that soon will call him President. It is us who have once again broken the mold and set a new standard. Renewed our spirit, freshened our blood.
We'll have our disagreements going forward just as we have had at any other point. People like me may not have voted-for but neither did we vote-against Obama. Sure, we've done so from the perspective that our side has become inadequate and in need of repair and so we are hopeful that Obama truly turns out being about advancing Opportunity & Optimism (see Reagan, JFK) moreso than he is about fostering Change (to eurocentric government models that ironically represent barriers to opportunity-for-all that permitted Obama to achieve his place in America), but we see a reasonable guy who can be worked with to improve the affairs of our nation and the lives of its people.
So through the thick & thin and no matter what happens, there's nothing that can ever take away this historic achievement and what it means both symbolically and tangibly for our nation, our world, and our human experience as we head into the next century of civilisation. And none of us should ever forget nor neglect to recognize that the fabric of America is truly the land of opportunity and Earth's greatest hope.
Cheers to you, President-Elect Obama. As I work to help my Republican party recapture its positive attributes, principles, and essence that complement society and our nation, I will be pulling for you as any President deserves all Americans' consideration and fair judgement--so don't get all euroliberal about things.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Define Loyalty
I've been getting grief for not supporting John McCain. Some may say, in fact, I'm being dangerous or petty at the expense of our nation by not being a dutiful Republican. As if surely any Republican President is better than any Democrat President. Most will say that it's selfish to just let Obama win the White House simply because I differ from our nominee. What with a more-than-likely Democrat House and Senate, stepping aside and letting Obama win will shut us totally out of power and give him free reign to do as he pleases, after all.
They ask: Where is my party loyalty?
The answer: My party loyalty is exactly why I am seeking the defeat of John McCain. To say he's never quite been a dutiful Republican himself and go off to detail a list of myriad instances that prove this would be boring, time-consuming, and wasteful, so instead we'll just admit the sky is blue and point to the fact that his Title of Maverick has been well-earned and has stuck for good reason. In defense of myself I point to having a respect for intellectual honesty, principle, and future longevity over holding onto power for power's sake.
What good is party loyalty if it means supporting the most disloyal among us? Supporting the most rogue, political species who made his name by publicly and repeatedly thwarting that which brought us to the Republican Party to begin with? What good is party loyalty itself if all it means is that, at day's end, you'll just show up and vote for whomever has the (R) by his name? Party loyalty is in the midst of being reduced to symbolism. True party loyalty lies in protecting, defending, and advancing your philosophy and practice. Not in simply towing the party line; any fool can do that. True party loyalty means doing what is right, at all times, even if it means you lose.
If there ever were a time where we needed a big loss, it is now. Republicans generally get elected when they run for office on the bases of conservatism. What's conservatism in my view? Conservatism is essentially the victory of realism over idealism. In other words, conservatism is practical solutions to problems. Beholding pragmatism as the core to conservatism is right and it is how we win elections. The past several years, though, we've seen a shift from this proven identity of conservatism to a more simplistic and superficial adoption of American symbols to stand in place of our precious pragmatism. Gone are intellectual debates by devoted advocates. Reason has expired and all that is done is calculated to win the short term. In are ushered the flag and patriotic song to stand in the place of reason and tenet, all the while political stunts, smears, and schemes are now rival to that of the Democrats, who long ago sold their soul to hold higher office. Ripe now are both sides with plenty of platitudes masquerading as Change and Straight Talk.
This is the third election in a row I've been told is the most important election of our lifetime. Only this time we're guaranteed a true change. Either Obama is fresh and new and the future is full of hope, or McCain is the maverick reformer who is going to clean up Washington D.C. Either we get the first non-white President in American history, or we get the first ever female Vice President in American history. All of this is merely symbolic. We have again image hiding reality. Obama radiates an aura of newness, of never-before-seen means of leading the nation, of solving our problems, curing our ills, yet his record and proposals are steeped in 1930s liberal ideology. McCain trumpets himself as the original change agent, the maverick, and as a reformer. Granted I admire McCain's crusade against pork and earmarks, the rest of his record is genuinely not very conservative, and his antics are those of a lifelong politician, and one dedicated to promoting his stature by attracting liberal media attention with the catnip of bashing his fellow Republicans. Looking behind the masks, we have an what's-old-is-new-again candidate who, without his identity, wouldn't even be a contender versus just another typical politician who is old hat.
The state of the Republican party is in very bad shape. We've placed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices and our property rights are under assault while terrorists and enemy combatants are granted constitutional rights? You gotta be kidding me! Government spending is higher than ever, inflation is running rampant and the dollar is deflated, weak, and left undefended. We've expanded government to its largest state by adding a totally redundant, entirely unnecessary bureaucracy, and new entitlements at a time when smaller, less gluttonous, more efficient government and entitlement reform were needed. I've been using this analogy: We're like an old, creaky plane lumbering down the runway, trying to get up to speed on 3 flat tires. In the cockpit sit an old pilot with health concerns whose maneuvers we never much liked and at his side is a co-pilot who doesn't even know how to fly (country last). We can either hop aboard this plane and hope it gets up to speed to lift off before we run out of room (and if it does take flight then Lord help us we don't crash), or we can power down, turn back, taxi back down the tarmac, pull into the hangar and begin building a new plane. I want the new plane.
Not only will being shut out of national power in the White House, Senate, and House be good for Republicans by forcing us to recapture our essence, but it will spare us from a drab and phony future of upcoming senators and congressmen who would otherwise be obligated to advocate for a President McCain's agenda, which if his record is any indicator, and it is, will be one that is Democrat-minus-one. Furthermore, we have the perfect person to oversee our reconstruction. Mark Twain couldn't fictionalize a better character to rebuild the party than Mitt Romney. His record, if it's any indicator, and it is, has proven tried and true to be one devoted to pragmatic solutions to all problems. Not only would he be an ace articulator of our philosophy, but the perfect foil to President Obama on TV for four years. Afterall he is the candidate most actual Republicans favored until the perfect storm of a crowded field, badly broken brand, open primaries, and religious bigotry yielded a fractured conservative base, resulting in the nomination falling out of a tree and into the lap of Senator McCain. We were hurt by those in our party who have fallen to parochial identity and symbolism over substance and meaning. In other words, we Republicans are turning into the Pharisees of our day.
We're at a point where we can let petty symbolism triumph over prinicple, or we can take a knee, fall on our sword, hit rock bottom. I don't believe that--regardless of anyone's political persuasion--anyone benefits when both parties resemble each other. And so, this is why I believe it's best for the party and the nation for John McCain to lose. And this is why I've ventured into the blogosophere for the first time. I urge all those who feel similarly about what John McCain means to the future potential of our party to join me. We can be the mavericks now. Secure our own future. Defeat McCain. All in favor say aye.
They ask: Where is my party loyalty?
The answer: My party loyalty is exactly why I am seeking the defeat of John McCain. To say he's never quite been a dutiful Republican himself and go off to detail a list of myriad instances that prove this would be boring, time-consuming, and wasteful, so instead we'll just admit the sky is blue and point to the fact that his Title of Maverick has been well-earned and has stuck for good reason. In defense of myself I point to having a respect for intellectual honesty, principle, and future longevity over holding onto power for power's sake.
What good is party loyalty if it means supporting the most disloyal among us? Supporting the most rogue, political species who made his name by publicly and repeatedly thwarting that which brought us to the Republican Party to begin with? What good is party loyalty itself if all it means is that, at day's end, you'll just show up and vote for whomever has the (R) by his name? Party loyalty is in the midst of being reduced to symbolism. True party loyalty lies in protecting, defending, and advancing your philosophy and practice. Not in simply towing the party line; any fool can do that. True party loyalty means doing what is right, at all times, even if it means you lose.
If there ever were a time where we needed a big loss, it is now. Republicans generally get elected when they run for office on the bases of conservatism. What's conservatism in my view? Conservatism is essentially the victory of realism over idealism. In other words, conservatism is practical solutions to problems. Beholding pragmatism as the core to conservatism is right and it is how we win elections. The past several years, though, we've seen a shift from this proven identity of conservatism to a more simplistic and superficial adoption of American symbols to stand in place of our precious pragmatism. Gone are intellectual debates by devoted advocates. Reason has expired and all that is done is calculated to win the short term. In are ushered the flag and patriotic song to stand in the place of reason and tenet, all the while political stunts, smears, and schemes are now rival to that of the Democrats, who long ago sold their soul to hold higher office. Ripe now are both sides with plenty of platitudes masquerading as Change and Straight Talk.
This is the third election in a row I've been told is the most important election of our lifetime. Only this time we're guaranteed a true change. Either Obama is fresh and new and the future is full of hope, or McCain is the maverick reformer who is going to clean up Washington D.C. Either we get the first non-white President in American history, or we get the first ever female Vice President in American history. All of this is merely symbolic. We have again image hiding reality. Obama radiates an aura of newness, of never-before-seen means of leading the nation, of solving our problems, curing our ills, yet his record and proposals are steeped in 1930s liberal ideology. McCain trumpets himself as the original change agent, the maverick, and as a reformer. Granted I admire McCain's crusade against pork and earmarks, the rest of his record is genuinely not very conservative, and his antics are those of a lifelong politician, and one dedicated to promoting his stature by attracting liberal media attention with the catnip of bashing his fellow Republicans. Looking behind the masks, we have an what's-old-is-new-again candidate who, without his identity, wouldn't even be a contender versus just another typical politician who is old hat.
The state of the Republican party is in very bad shape. We've placed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices and our property rights are under assault while terrorists and enemy combatants are granted constitutional rights? You gotta be kidding me! Government spending is higher than ever, inflation is running rampant and the dollar is deflated, weak, and left undefended. We've expanded government to its largest state by adding a totally redundant, entirely unnecessary bureaucracy, and new entitlements at a time when smaller, less gluttonous, more efficient government and entitlement reform were needed. I've been using this analogy: We're like an old, creaky plane lumbering down the runway, trying to get up to speed on 3 flat tires. In the cockpit sit an old pilot with health concerns whose maneuvers we never much liked and at his side is a co-pilot who doesn't even know how to fly (country last). We can either hop aboard this plane and hope it gets up to speed to lift off before we run out of room (and if it does take flight then Lord help us we don't crash), or we can power down, turn back, taxi back down the tarmac, pull into the hangar and begin building a new plane. I want the new plane.
Not only will being shut out of national power in the White House, Senate, and House be good for Republicans by forcing us to recapture our essence, but it will spare us from a drab and phony future of upcoming senators and congressmen who would otherwise be obligated to advocate for a President McCain's agenda, which if his record is any indicator, and it is, will be one that is Democrat-minus-one. Furthermore, we have the perfect person to oversee our reconstruction. Mark Twain couldn't fictionalize a better character to rebuild the party than Mitt Romney. His record, if it's any indicator, and it is, has proven tried and true to be one devoted to pragmatic solutions to all problems. Not only would he be an ace articulator of our philosophy, but the perfect foil to President Obama on TV for four years. Afterall he is the candidate most actual Republicans favored until the perfect storm of a crowded field, badly broken brand, open primaries, and religious bigotry yielded a fractured conservative base, resulting in the nomination falling out of a tree and into the lap of Senator McCain. We were hurt by those in our party who have fallen to parochial identity and symbolism over substance and meaning. In other words, we Republicans are turning into the Pharisees of our day.
We're at a point where we can let petty symbolism triumph over prinicple, or we can take a knee, fall on our sword, hit rock bottom. I don't believe that--regardless of anyone's political persuasion--anyone benefits when both parties resemble each other. And so, this is why I believe it's best for the party and the nation for John McCain to lose. And this is why I've ventured into the blogosophere for the first time. I urge all those who feel similarly about what John McCain means to the future potential of our party to join me. We can be the mavericks now. Secure our own future. Defeat McCain. All in favor say aye.
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