Politics
Robert Stokes (I have no idea who he is, besides the author of this article) is leaving the Republican Party.
Personally, I did much the same a few years ago -- these days I'd call myself Libertarian -- but I would phrase it differently: the Republican Party left me. There was a time when describing oneself as Republican meant that you wanted small government, balanced budgets, and fidelity to the constitution, as well as denoting a certain level of moral conservatism.
These days, if it means anything beyond unquestioning loyalty, it means only opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Gay marriage is a far more complex issue than it is usually made out to be, which I shall not get into here; and while I think abortion is wrong, I will not sacrifice everything else for the microscopic hope that someday it will be outlawed. It just isn't happening, and we'd do better if we took the efforts that go to outlawing it and put them into reducing it by education and prevention.
So I find not a single issue in which I agree with the Republican Party's actions, though I agreed with the majority of what they said in 2000; in fact, I think the Republican Congress had as much to do with the good times of the 90's as Clinton did, but in the last six years it's all gone down the tubes.
This coming election, and again in 2008, I want the Republicans to lose. I want them to lose badly. To be decimated, destroyed, annihilated, to cease to exist as a political party. This is not because I hate them, but because I want conservative (or, more precisely, Libertarian) government. I want a government that will protect my rights, keep out of my business, and let me decide how to live my life. I want a government that will uphold the rule of law. I want a government that will tax me enough to do those few things which the government does better than the people, and let me keep the rest so I can do more good with it than they would have (and if you think I, or anyone, wouldn't, you haven't been watching our government).
And right now, the only way I see that happening is if the Republicans are so thoroughly eliminated from the scene that a new conservative/libertarian party (or parties) take over. If a bunch of minor parties -- Libertarian, conservative, perhaps Reform and Constitutional -- would like to get together and hasten this by supporting the same candidates, they'd have my support. In the meantime, I'll keep waiting for the party I once supported to self-destruct, so someone else can take up its ideals and do a better job with them.
And if the Republicans would like to repent and correct this mess they've gotten themselves in, I would come back welcome them back with open arms.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Personally, I did much the same a few years ago -- these days I'd call myself Libertarian -- but I would phrase it differently: the Republican Party left me. There was a time when describing oneself as Republican meant that you wanted small government, balanced budgets, and fidelity to the constitution, as well as denoting a certain level of moral conservatism.
These days, if it means anything beyond unquestioning loyalty, it means only opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Gay marriage is a far more complex issue than it is usually made out to be, which I shall not get into here; and while I think abortion is wrong, I will not sacrifice everything else for the microscopic hope that someday it will be outlawed. It just isn't happening, and we'd do better if we took the efforts that go to outlawing it and put them into reducing it by education and prevention.
So I find not a single issue in which I agree with the Republican Party's actions, though I agreed with the majority of what they said in 2000; in fact, I think the Republican Congress had as much to do with the good times of the 90's as Clinton did, but in the last six years it's all gone down the tubes.
This coming election, and again in 2008, I want the Republicans to lose. I want them to lose badly. To be decimated, destroyed, annihilated, to cease to exist as a political party. This is not because I hate them, but because I want conservative (or, more precisely, Libertarian) government. I want a government that will protect my rights, keep out of my business, and let me decide how to live my life. I want a government that will uphold the rule of law. I want a government that will tax me enough to do those few things which the government does better than the people, and let me keep the rest so I can do more good with it than they would have (and if you think I, or anyone, wouldn't, you haven't been watching our government).
And right now, the only way I see that happening is if the Republicans are so thoroughly eliminated from the scene that a new conservative/libertarian party (or parties) take over. If a bunch of minor parties -- Libertarian, conservative, perhaps Reform and Constitutional -- would like to get together and hasten this by supporting the same candidates, they'd have my support. In the meantime, I'll keep waiting for the party I once supported to self-destruct, so someone else can take up its ideals and do a better job with them.
And if the Republicans would like to repent and correct this mess they've gotten themselves in, I would come back welcome them back with open arms.
But I'm not holding my breath.