I had an afternoon coffee with a friend and loyal SFDB reader [the same one who wanted to know where I was this morning] and the conversation turned to politics. He explained to me that if there was one beef that he had with SFDB it was the nonstop bashing of Republicans without an ounce of criticism for Democrats. I spent some time explaining myself and he thought it would be a good idea to post my thoughts so that other readers were aware of my thinking on the matter. Sooooo.....I have some very definite problems with the Obama Administration. Their lack of transparency on some matters, their failure to clearly and unequivocally come out against the use of torture, and their decision not to explore whether the Bush Administration violated any criminal laws in their zeal to "keep America safe" all have disappointed me to some degree.
I haven't dedicated any space on SFDB to these disappointments because, quite frankly, I feel like the evolution that the conservatives are going through right now is far more interesting and, at the same time, disconcerting, than the relatively minor worries I have with what President Obama is doing. So I'm concentrating on those issues instead.
It's a very interesting time in our Nation's history, to be sure. When I have the choice of posting the details of Obama's healthcare plan or addressing the calls of a growing number of Americans to overthrow our democratically elected President because he's a communist, socialist, islamofascist or angry black man, I choose the latter because, really, given the choice, which one would you rather hear about on SFDB? And, yes, I know, some would rather read about neither. But, c'mon, you need to be informed as to what side you want to be on in the upcoming Second Civil War, don't you?
I'm going to try to even things out a little, but unless the Republican Party gives us nothing more than "No, that won't work and liberals suck," and offer nothing in return, it's going to be extremely difficult to balance things up to any significant degree.
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10 comments:
You use the terms Republican and conservative interchangeably. Do you believe there is a distinction or not?
Um, they can be.
***crosses fingers, holds breath and hopes that he doesn't maintain that there's a 3rd major political party in the U,s,***
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Ok, then that explains much of your blog.
There is no unified "conservative" ideology, anymore than there is a unified "liberal", "christian" (or any religion) ideology. So I can't speak for all "conservatives", whatever we are.
But there are many conservatives unaffiliated with the Republican party. McCain lost because a lot of conservatives did not bother to vote. Most "Reagan" conservatives are disgusted with the Republican party (there are a few good apples). And even more disgusted with the Democrat party (there are a few good apples).
A parliamentary system might be better. It now seems impossible for a two party system to adequately represent the entire country, let alone the entirety of the group that voted for them. Our founders warned against this, George Washington hated parties altogether.
Your posts on "little Limbaughs" is annoying because a lot of conservatives don't listen to Limbaugh at all. That's not to say they might not agree with a Republican on a particular policy choice. But often the reasons for supporting a policy are quite different.
One of the quintessential examples of this is to read Clarance Thomas's dissenting opinion from Grutter v. Bollinger:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-241.ZX1.html
Unless one foolishly accuses him of being an "Uncle Tom", its a sort of proof that it is possible to be opposed to affirmative action without being racist. It may be true that some Republicans oppose affirmative action out of racial animus, but there is a very principled case against it.
And the same is true for abortion, gun control, war & peace, health care, and so on. The question is whether you, Rick, are going to keep judging all conservatives by Hush Bimbo, or if you're going to start filtering out that noise and instead listen to conservatives who aren't drinking from Rush's well.
Thank you, KC, for that lesson. Now let me go back and brush up on the one where you say Obama is setting up youth camps comparable to Hitler's.
There's a reason why I don't waste much time on you.
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And when people refer to the "Democrat Party," knowing that the name of the organization is the Democratic Party, they're doing it to be annoying, and therefore not worth trying to reason with.
For a guy who claims that he doesn't listen to Rush he sure mimics him well.
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Just admit Rick. You're full of hate.
This corner is tending toward agreement that a parliamentary system might be better. We could have quick elections at lower cost and immediately install a new cabinet rather than our present situation where Joe Garcia for instance still is waiting to be confirmed by the sclerotic senate for a third-level post. Seven months after inauguration. Nine months after election. A form of government suitable for the 18th century though I like the We the People business ... A job for the second term -- a new Constitution.
Wow, Carlos. In the time it took you to write that comment, a cop misbehaved somewhere on the planet and you didn't note it on your "photography" blog. Shame on you.
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Oh snap!
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