I am the only progressive moderate in a family of ultra-conservatives. I have been registered as an independent since 1980. I have always voted my conscience – not by party propoganda.
What has been missing in the discussion is that both side have skeletons in their closets – all politicians make deals they later regret in the name of the ‘greater good.’ The Republicans were swept into a congressional majority with the ‘Contract for America.’ With a majority – they passed only one of their promises. With a majority – they gutted the military, and approved every one of Clinton’s spending measures. At the end of the Clinton 2nd term Phil Graham (R – Texas) authored the repeal of a law which had protected the American consumer and economy since the Depression – the Glass-Stengal Act. This deregulation led the creation of hybrid bank / financial institutions that created investment vehicles called mortgage backed securities, which were backed only by debt. The 1999 law not only took away a needed protection, it created a new financial system with no regulation.
What is often forgeten in the political debate is that liberal means liberty, and conservatism means a rejection of change. When Obama takes office on Jan. 4,perhaps we will see long lines of conservatives waiting to leave the country. Without their whining about the civil rights they are afraid to loose – oh wait, they already let GWB take them away – the remaining citizens can unite as a antion, and not a division of class. I dream of a replay of the French revolution, with the Republican heads rolling out of baskets. They’re are way more of us, and maybe a semi-socialist state won’t be as bad for us. Of course,you’ll be the one’s standing next to the freeway offramps, and sleeping under bridges.
