(If you don’t know the joke behind the title, consider yourself lucky…)
Anyways… to finally post an answer to
“I think I could be a Republican. Well if the party changed its platform to state…”
This topic made me smile because in law school I was frequently asked why I was not a republican.
Lets start off by saying that I am not a member of nor do I feel any love for either party. I grew up in a fairly liberal household, with a father who believed that the last great Republican was Lincoln. I would ask about Teddy Roosevelt and he would agree there too. However Ronald Reagan was amoung the worst presidents ever1. So, I have a childhood based suspicion of the GOP.
My own political views are of the socially progressive2 fiscally conservative notion.3 Let me define what I mean by fiscally conservative – living within our means. Some of my closests and most politically similar Republican friends say the same thing – refering to themselves as the country club conservatives. I believe this is where most Americans fall – basicly in the center. To be blunt, I find the Republican party to be neither of those things.4
Lets look at the 2004 Republian platform:
1. WINNING THE WAR ON TERROR – “President Bush’s leadership is rooted in the timeless values that have made America a unique and exalted nation: respect for individual rights; a deep commitment to freedom; a desire to serve as a living example of the power of democracy.”
To be honest, I do not believe we are winning the war on terror. In fact, I would argue we have not only surrendered the moral high ground, but that we have surrendered. What is it that threatens the terrorists the most? Our values which can be best summed up in the Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – & enumerated in the Bill of Rights. Amoung those rights are fair and speedy trial, freedom from unlawful search and seizure, etc.
How can we balance these so called values with the knowledge that innocent people were kept detained in Guantanamo without access to lawyers or trial? That the NSC has been engaging in warantless wire taps. The people were disapeared off the streets without their family knowing what happened to them and without access to lawyers and the courts. We cannot and by surrendering these rights we have let them win.
Yes, I understand the need to keep people safe, the need to be perceived as doing something. However this is not Nazi Germany. This is not the Soviet Union. This is not Cuba. This is not Communist China. If the Republicans wanted to exhibit strong leadership, and to truly win the war on terror, they would have stood up and said ‘We will not compromise our values. We will do what is necessary to protect the Americna people and the citizens of the world, and to do so without stepping on the fundamentals in which we believe. A truly free society is an open society. And a free society is what the terrorist fear the most.
I shall continue analyzing the platform and letting you know how I feel about it. In a way this is kind of fun – maybe I’ll tackle the Democratic platform after.
Controversial enough,
1 Another topic, another timee, ok?.
2 Teh word liberal – yet another seperate topic. But lets remember that the conservative of today worships a dead radicall, shall we?
3 I know someone who claims to be socially conservative and fiscally liberal which makes my head hurt.
4 Saying I do not believe the Republicnas are those things does NOT imply that I believe the Democrats are.
