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Aug 9, 2003 In the past I have been accused of being a blanket conservative, a closed minded sheep, and a warmonger. Isn’t interesting that people who want peace will go so far to make it impossible to have a civil discussion about politics. Yes these people were libs, and no their comments don’t hold any truth. How do I differ from being one of the flock? Well, I object to many of the stipulations in the Patriot act. We’ve really must keep our heads during these times. We don’t need new laws, just to enforce the laws we do have. If the immigrations laws had been followed, many of the 9/11 hijackers would have been deported for having expired visas. Intelligence agencies may have let us down, but so did the INS. Critics of the Patriot Act will say that we can’t have a repeat of the Internment camps from World War II. I agree. Why would a bunch of Democrats bring that up? It was a democratic president who ordered those internment camps. Remember this, for liberal ideology to work you can’t point out the truth behind their examples. It is bad form and it takes away their arguments. And it will make them grumpy. To paraphrase Dennis Miller, who is becoming something of a modern day Mark Twain with his grumpy but true comments, I am not just a conservative. I am a pragmatist. Nowadays pragmatism is more in line with conservative politics. Whining and complaining about Rush Limbaugh is the party line of the Democrats. Socialism and tree hugging is for the Green party. The Libertarians? They might have a good corner on pragmatism now that I think about it. I wish that I could be one of the good guys, but I am too fond of sanity. I look at the liberal politics and I am confused. There are just too many inconsistencies. Here are just a few. Why does Jessie Jackson want us to go into a country that is of no security threat to the United States, like Liberia, and not into Iraq? So we a racist for killing Iraqis and we are racist for not killing bad Liberians. The NOW wants to make sure that women keep the right to have an abortion but currently have a program against breast implants. Women have a right to choose a completely avoidable situation, but they should not change the appearance. The left completely supports freedom of speech. As long as it isn’t a prayer. They especially love protests against Republican Presidents. Have you noticed what happens when a conservative tries to address a group of university students? They are silenced by screams and howls, and quite often threats of violence, and no defense of their free speech is given. I find their behavior to be amusing, until I look around and not nearly enough people are outraged. I want there to be two strong political parties. I’d even like to see a strong third party. What saddens me is that the liberals seem to be so much about conflict and wining power. Not philosophy. When I ask what they philosophy is I get a long list of opposing views from the Republican Party. Fine. But what else do you have? The conservatives want a smaller government, a lighter tax burden for everyone, a strong and respected military, and for local governments to retain authority over their jurisdictions. Can someone please tell me the philosophy of the Democratic Party without mentioning Bush, McCarthy, or Oil companies? If you can, please write me. If you can’t, don’t worry your friends are waiting for you over at DemocraticUnderground.com. They’ll be happy to commiserate about you being asked such an unfair question. Speaking of the Underground, it is such a great site to lurk and confirm the intellectual dishonesty that has become the hallmark of the modern Democratic Party. I am so disappointed by the Democrat's behavior about the Iraq war and the WMD. There is a difference between factual inaccurate and dishonesty. The first is passing on information that you hope is correct, the latter is deliberate. For my Liberal friends this means that it does matter if you intentionally lie under oath, or deliberately mislead the public and commit fraud in the process. If they would like to right the wrongs of a President who created a war to boost a sagging political career, I guess they better dig up LBJ and have him explain the Gulf of Tonkin. I have my complaints about the conservatives. The deepest weakness that we have is the association with a “religious right.” I am in no way suggesting that anyone hide his or her religion, but it needs to be kept private. That means keep it out of the workplace. For our politicians, that means keeping your religious beliefs out of our laws. As a society, we are not benefited by the so-called “blue laws” or morality based laws. There is no need to ever write a law that serves the beliefs of any one group. And for that matter, we can’t have laws that oppress any lifestyle either. It is just a shame that this area of the Republican Party has a knack for attacking negative press and the endless venom of the left. We can’t change them, but we can clean up our image. I really see an opportunity for the right to include more minorities. The Hispanic population has a long history with the Catholic faith, and many have similar if not stronger, beliefs about abortion. For the African American population, how insulting the back alley shakedowns of Jessie Jackson must be. We are an alternative to the Civil Rights movement that has hijacked by thugs, pimps, or thieves who are more interested in their own notoriety than actual social change. We are an inclusive party that needs an image enhancement. It is sexy to be a liberal and to share your vote with the celebrities. The conservative image is a middle class white person, vacations at Disneyland, who probably drives an SUV, and likes America’s Funniest Home Videos. Oops, I just described my family. We have fun, but we’re not all that sexy. If there was a real alternative to the Republican Party I might sign up. I like a lot of what the Libertarians have to say. I’d even vote for one in a local election. Not in a national one. All that would do is repeat the Perot influence and get us another joke of a president like Clinton. Remember, when you hear Libs saying that Bush didn’t get a majority of the votes, that Clinton was elected by default because of the votes drained off by Perot. No Perot, in either of the Clinton elections, and no Bubba in the White House. The Libertarian party will have to build a party out of small, local elections to become a major player. When they do become a major party, I will be listening to their platform with great interest. Until then, Bush will get my vote. Honestly, if it would mean a Democratic defeat, I’d vote for Bo Derek. Wouldn’t that make for an interesting campaign? ------------ About the author: Edward Lyell is politically active in New Mexico and has been a small business owner and currently works as professional counselor. Once a great Democrat, he became another one of the disenfranchised during the Clinton presidency. He categorizes himself as a firm believer in Objectivism, free trade, and the Constitution. Email Edward Lyell: Edsterl@aol.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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