As our party is going though a much-needed period of introspection, please consider that there was a time when this party stood for the Constitution, the rule of law, national defense, free enterprise, limited government, low taxes, balanced budgets, and individual rights. We still honor those principles; but those who now govern have no concern for or even understanding of such matters.Wait, let's break down those 'traditional principles':
While the other party has been winning elections and undermining everything we have traditionally valued, what issues dominate our political discourse? Our party has been talking about sex and religion.
When we say “sex,” we mean topics like abstinence, promiscuity, homosexuality, pre-marital relations, contraception, sodomy, nudity, pornography, masturbation, same-sex marriage, sex education, abortion, and morning-after pills. Does that list sound familiar? It should, because those are the issues that too often dominate your campaigns.
Except for late-term abortion, where the other party has an extreme position that could be exploited (except that it’s lost in a sea of other sex-related issues), there is absolutely no reason to discuss such matters as part of our party’s policies. The Constitution doesn’t give the federal government any authority over those issues. If they need to be addressed, it should be done only at the state level.
When we speak of religion, we mostly mean the current movement to insert religious doctrines into public school science classes, especially creationism and its love-child, intelligent design. It seems to us that this is a latter-day substitute for prayer in public schools, which is essentially a dead issue these days, but still a hot-button item. There are other religious issues, like objections to certain areas of biological research.
Our obsession with creationism and blocking biological research has earned us the reputation of being an anti-science party, which is a burden our adversaries are delighted to exploit — notwithstanding their Luddite opposition to nuclear energy, oil exploration, aerospace technology, etc. Aside from that, religious issues should not concern the national government — especially when we have so many vital matters — our traditional principles — that must be addressed before the republic is lost forever.
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An inordinate emphasis on sex and religion makes hypocrites of half of us, and fools of all. More importantly, it will permanently marginalize the party, while the opponents of our traditional principles triumph.
- the Constitution, the rule of law: Unchecked executive power, illegal torture and mistreatment of detainees, denial of due process? These are not traditional nor Reaganesque principles.
- national defense: In case you hadn't noticed, the Cold War is over. We already waste way more GDP on defense than any other nation. And Republicans remain intent on massively overreacting to terror threats.
- free enterprise: I think freer migration bears on free enterprise in the same way as free trade, so this could be better. But yes, Republicans are good on trade.
- limited government: Wake me up when the party is ready to repeal No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, and the Patriot Act.
- low taxes: Sure, except they're not sustainable without cutting spending, something Republicans failed to do.
- balanced budgets: Only when out of power. Don't make me laugh.
- and individual rights: All the sex stuff discussed above is one massive failure here. But surely the War on Drugs is every bit as pernicious.
The reason for Obamaconism is that today, on balance, Democrats are better than Republicans on their 'traditional principles'. Until the party realizes and reforms this, I hope you enjoy your time in the wilderness.
Hmm, let's see.
ReplyDelete1. Republican's aren't in favor of any of those things. Well, i'm in favor of "illegal torture" in some cases, but most Republicans are not. Due process doesn't apply to enemies in wartime.
2. There is a lot of waste in defense. The reason we need a large military is because of how we define our interests overseas. That applies to both parties. Until/unless we change our fundamental outlook we need a huge military. The overreaction thing is just bs.
4. All of those were also supported by Democrats, and Democrats would go much farther with big government in education and healthcare.
5. True. But again, Democrats are worse. And they don't even want low taxes.
6. Again, the Obama administration is doing everything possible to increase the deficit even more.
7. I'll give you that one. Although Democrats are also onboard on the war on drugs.
"The reason for Obamaconism is that today, on balance, Democrats are better than Republicans on their 'traditional principles'"
Democrats are worse in almost every area. The reason for Obamaconism is purely a reaction to Bush, combined with naive hope.
Due process applies to enemies who have been captured.
ReplyDelete> The overreaction thing is just bs
Yeah ok, tell that to all the people and resources we've wasted in Iraq. Other overreactions are hyping Guantanamo detainees to be more dangerous than Nazis, and the ilk.
I agree that Obamaconism is a reaction what the party became under Bush. You write off Republican failings in #1 in #2 as being of little consequence. But I see it differently. Hence, though Democrats are somewhat worse in other areas where Republicans don't fail as badly, on balance they were a better this time around, at least to clean up Republican messes.
True, many have been overhopeful, but that's more of a campaign attitude. The rampant fear and paranoia on the right is a constant thing.
"The rampant fear and paranoia on the right is a constant thing."
ReplyDeleteWhere were you the last eight years? It will take awhile for us to get to the level of fear & paranoia shown by the left during the Bush administration. The right is off to a really fast start in that regard under the Obama administration, but they've got aways to go.
Have you forgotten Jane's Law? It's normal for the party out of power to be insane. What's not normal is for the party IN power to be insane, and Republicans were in power.
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