Sunday, October 19, 2008

Country and Party

The Ex-Prosecutor commented in response to Barone: "The coming Obama thugacracy" with a very thoughtful statement about party affiliation. I want to share Ex-P’s comment with you, after which I’ll say some things about where I stand on party affiliation. Then it’s your turn.

Before reading on you may want to take a look at the Barone post.

Here’s the Ex-Prosecutor - - -

I agree with this post. However, I believe that the Republicans have brought all of this on themselves, and unfortunately, as the article points out, on the rest of us.

The first vote of my life was for Barry Goldwater and, since then, I have been a very dependable Republican voter and contributor. Since then, I have seen the Republican Party shift away from long-time members such as myself. Former Senate majority leader Howard Baker was a moderate Republican, meaning that he was conservative on fiscal issues and moderate on social issues.

These days, the only way he could make it past the Republican primary in Tennessee is if two conservatives split the conservative vote. In fact, this happened in our last election to the benefit of the moderate candidate.

Senator Baker was known as the "Great Conciliator." Today, I see few conciliators in the Republican Party, for the party would not tolerate positions taken by a present day Howard Baker.

I have made quick comparisons of the Republican party platforms over the past years. They are reflective of and responsive to the problems and issues of the time, including the cold war, Roe v. Wade, abortion and same-sex marriage. That of 1976 blisters the Democrats, but would be an indictment of the current Republican party.

It may be that the issues and problems of our time make compromises much more difficult. However, the current Republican party has placed much greater emphasis on social issues and ignored the party's most basic beliefs, as set out in the 1976 platform, as to the role of government and individual rights.

In short, I want to be a member of the Republican party of 40 years ago.

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Thanks, Ex-P.

As for my party affiliation, I’m registered as an “unaffiliated” voter.

I almost always vote a split ballot.

If you pushed me to say more than that, I’d answer you this way: I’m not a Republican, but I can’t be a Democrat.

The U.S. military is America’s most essential organization.

Take it off the board and the killers dominating Pakistan’s tribal areas, practicing genocide in parts of Africa, and teaching women and children to make themselves human bombs in Iraq and Israel would soon be over here.

I don’t want that so I always look at both parties and ask myself how they’re treating our military.

Neither party treats our servicemen and women nor their families as well as they ought to be treated.

But the Rs don’t slime our military and put our servicemen's and women’s lives at greater risk the way too many Dems do.

I’m not just talking about the rank-and-file Dems in Move On.org who help pay for and endorse things like a General Betray Us ad.

Or those who jump on and hype anything that reflects poorly on our military without waiting for facts or by ignoring them outright. A lot of Dems controlling news media are that way as are millions who approve such media.

If it was just millions of rank-and-file Dems engaging in that reprehensible behavior, I’d say their leaders need to rein them in and allow that maybe I could be a Dem.

But when it comes to sliming our military and thereby putting our serving forces lives at greater risk than need be, many Dem leaders lead and others won’t call them out for what they are.

Ted Kennedy at the time of Abu Ghraib said Saddam’s prison system’s been re-opened under U. S. military direction. Dick Durbin compared our military at Gitmo to the Gestapo and Pol Pot’s killers. Jack Murtha announces our Marines at Haditha have killed civilians “in cold blood.”

Their calumnies have been used to great effect by America's enemies.

There’s really no need for al Qeada to make up lies to inflame sentiment against our troops and recruit future terrorists. Al Qaeda only needs to quote the lies of Kennedy, Durbin and Murtha.

Traveling around the world I hear and read those lies quoted back by everyone from the well-intentioned, but uninformed to the chronic, zealous anti-American including, especially, the Jew-haters.

There’s a lot more I could say about all this, but I've said enough to make my point to reasonable people.

There are other reasons why I couldn’t be a Dem and I’ll post on a few of them soon.

Now where are you in terms of party affiliation?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would be a Libertarian if they had a chance in hell of winning anything. Instead, I have been a Republican ever since voting for Gerald Ford in 1976. On supporting the military, taxes, immigration, welfare, social security, gun control, and deficit spending the Republicans are bad; the dims are infinitely worse.

Anonymous said...

John: I agree with you in almost everything you have said here. As for the Middle East, I have a different take than you. I had the misfortune of being a principal victim of Israel's espionage in the infamous Pollard affair (the traitor worked for me) and I lost fellow intelligence specialists when the Israelis tried to sink the USS LIBERTY. For those reasons, there is no love lost between me and Zionism. I feel we should be friends with all parties in the Middle East, but shouldn't be Israel's enabler nor should we be a tool of Zionism. Unfortunately, we are viewed throughout the Muslim world as Israel's big brother even though that, I know, is not our intent. I hope you understand my position is not antisemitic in any respect, but that I wish we had a more even-handed policy.
Tarheel Hawkeye

Anonymous said...

I too find myself in agreement with both JinC and Tarheel Hawkeye. Tarheel Hawkeye is quite right that we should try to be friends with all parties in the Middle East. As long as we allow ourselves to conduct our Middle East foreign policy with a perceived guilty conscience for failure to do more during the Holocaust, we will be unable to bring about some form of peace to that region. The real issue there wil over water rights - the Israelis have managed to secure for themselves the majority of the fresh water available in the region. This enables their population and economy continued economic growth while hampering the economies of their neighbors (with the exception of the Egyptians who in fact are the greatest electrical power producers of the area - a primary reason for the continued peace between Israel and Egypt is the former's dependence on cheap electricity from the Aswan Dam and the latter's dependence upon Israel as their most important customer and consumer).
The current presidential election is a problem. While I have voted Republican for the top of the ticket in every election since I could first vote (1972) I have often voted Democrat for other offices - including senator and representative. I am one who feels more comfortable with a division of legislative and executive functions between the two political parties rather than what I gravely fear is going to happen this November - everything in the hands of one political party with a veto proof Congress to boot. McCain has, unfortunately, not demonstrated the fire-in-the belly needed to win this election. Obama has serious deficits yet these have not been illumnated by the GOP nor been fully examined by the media. We as a nation will be much the worse come a year from now - let alone four years from now.
cks

Anonymous said...

Re: “In short, I want to be a member of the Republican party of 40 years ago.”
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John, I am wondering what the average person knew about politics 40 years ago? Who dispensed the news? Was the media so biased then? Was there total political gridlock then? Was the corruption of politicians so prevalent then? Could the absence of 24/7 doom and gloom news made it seem like a better time? The academics wanted me to think anytime the Democrats were in office, time was golden, but revisionist history is suspect in my opinion.

I don’t see myself in either party, I want to go back in time myself, I think.

Anonymous said...

JinC said:
"The U.S. military is America’s most essential organization."

"Neither party treats our servicemen and women nor their families as well as they ought to be treated."



Never fighting undeclared wars is the best way to take care of our military.

The US Congress has not declared war since 1941.

Today a vote for the R or D of your choice is a vote for the status quo, pure and simple.

A true American patriot loves his country and will defend it from its misguided government.