I've been watching the post-election bruhaha with some amusement.
I have to get this out: A lot of my friends and associates for some reason think I'm a Republican because I don't hate Bush and am generally contemptuous of liberal politics. Actually, I'm libertarian which means I'm a true small government and fiscal conservative but I don't give a damn about how people conduct their personal lives.
Just so you know where I'm coming from.
Anyway, what's striking to me in the last week is that Democrats seem to have no idea how and why they swept elections. It's evident in what has been going on the last few days.
Pelosi and the leftist Democrats think that they've been given a mandate to lead from the left as evidenced by her support of Murtha and Alcee Hastings for committee chair choices. The Blue Dog centrist/conservative Democrats believe that America remains in the middle and just simply wanted change on the Iraq issue.
My opinion? The Blue Dogs have it right. This election was the Perfect Storm of two trends....the growing dissatisfaction with Iraq and the historical loss in Congress of a 6-year President. This was not an endorsement, by far, of leftist ideography. Witness how Murtha crashed and burned in the secret ballot and we shall see what happens with Hastings.
Will the Federal minimum wage be raised? Probably. Although I have to admit that the concept bothers me as it seems to me a an issue best raised at the State or local level...it's certainly not in the Constitution which should automatically devolve it to the States.
Will Medicare be able to negotiate prices directly with the pharmaceutical companies? This seems to me so common sense that I feel like there must be a snake in the grass somewhere. Why would the GOP be so against this on principle? And, yes, I know my leftist friends will claim that it's because they're money-grubbing bastards in the pockets of Big Drug but that's too simplistic...
Bush tax cuts? That's the third rail. Say all you want about "tax cuts for the rich" but I ain't rich and the cuts have saved me $2k or more each year. That's money I could not do without. Take the cuts away and you will not be popular and you'll probably damage the economy as well.
Iraq? God, who knows? No opinion here. There are good arguments for all points of view.
So who won the election? All Americans. Why? Because the right extremists can't dictate and the left extremists can't legislate without compromise. So we're either going to have some very common sense government over the next 2 years or total pig-headed gridlock.
2008 will prove interesting.
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2 comments:
People think you are a republican because you consitantly attack democrats and defend republicans.
I have not heard democrats claiming they have this mandate to implement all their most liberal ideals. I did hear talk of a mandate from Bush when he barely won in 2004. He claimed it validated Iraq, which is absurd and hopefully clear to him now. 2004 validated amerivca hates gays, and you, a "libertarian" should not be so quick to defend a party that is so eager to strip away indvidual rights and privacy, govern personal lives and make moral decisions for indviduals. If you are a libertarian you should start acting like one and stop defending/supporting these republican yahoos.
A Libertarian is not someone who just doesn't like taxs or a smoking ban or laws against drugs or guns. If you want to call yourself libertarian you must respect and defend Indvidual rights, all of them not just the ones you like or for the people or activity you value.
And $2000 a year in tax savings, how much interest are you earning on that money so you can pay back the giant debt we have built up under republican control? Hope you don't have kids that need to pay for higher education because that $2000 will not cover the cutbacks in student loan funding.
There are many types of libertarians and I deliberately used the small "l". Note that I am also a conservative.
Bush's claim in 2004: I agree with you.
2004 validated that America hates gays? That's insulting and repulsive.
And I do support individual rights and liberties. Big time. But the reciprocal side of that is that total respect for an individuals rights require the framework of a civil society. Which we don't completely have with the terror threat and other external threats.
So, you claim you want to respect my rights as an individual yet you then turn around and criticize me for wanting to keep more of what I earn? That's not respect.
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