Republicans are no Longer Conservative
Last night, I was driving up to Pennsylvania, and was channel surfing on the radio as I drove. For a while, I was listening to Sean Hannity, and during his show, he was proudly noting the latest economic numbers, including a 4.6% unemployement rate, increased tax collections, etc. He was especially proud of how the deficit is down to only four-hundred-something billion dollars (I think it was $450 billion) from six-hundred-something. I was amazed that he was proud that we are spending over four-hundred billion dollars more than we take in each year. When Clinton was in office, conservatives slammed the President for having a deficit that was about half of that. What happened to fiscal conservatism?
Later in the drive, I was listening to another "conservative" talk radio host who was attacking Colin Powell. Apparently, certain parts of the Republican party are extremely upset with Colin Powell's letter expressing concerns about the attempts to limit the scope of the Geneva Conventions. Colin Powell expressed concern that we would lose the moral high ground. This particular assertion has infuriated parts of the Right. The talk show host was appalled that Colin Powell would make such an assertion, since he should know better that the Democrats would use such a statement for their own purposes.
I am disgusted that people would put party politics over doing the right thing. Colin Powell stood by his principles and denounced attempts to legitimize torture, even though he knew the political pressure he would receive. The fact that the Republican party would be upset over somebody doing the right thing is appalling. I think the Republican Party needs more men like Colin Powell, who are willing to stand up for what is right.
The modern Republican Party has nothing in common with the party that brought us the Contract with America. The principals of balanced budgets, term limits, and smaller government have gone out the window. While I am not fond of the Democrats, if the Republicans lose their majority this Fall, I won't shed any tears over it. After all, the Republicans have turned their backs on what it means to be conservative.
Later in the drive, I was listening to another "conservative" talk radio host who was attacking Colin Powell. Apparently, certain parts of the Republican party are extremely upset with Colin Powell's letter expressing concerns about the attempts to limit the scope of the Geneva Conventions. Colin Powell expressed concern that we would lose the moral high ground. This particular assertion has infuriated parts of the Right. The talk show host was appalled that Colin Powell would make such an assertion, since he should know better that the Democrats would use such a statement for their own purposes.
I am disgusted that people would put party politics over doing the right thing. Colin Powell stood by his principles and denounced attempts to legitimize torture, even though he knew the political pressure he would receive. The fact that the Republican party would be upset over somebody doing the right thing is appalling. I think the Republican Party needs more men like Colin Powell, who are willing to stand up for what is right.
The modern Republican Party has nothing in common with the party that brought us the Contract with America. The principals of balanced budgets, term limits, and smaller government have gone out the window. While I am not fond of the Democrats, if the Republicans lose their majority this Fall, I won't shed any tears over it. After all, the Republicans have turned their backs on what it means to be conservative.
posted by David at 10/07/2006 11:39:00 AM
2 Comments:
The Republican party does not fully agree that torture is ok. There are many different opinions on this issue within the Republican Party. A few talk-show hosts do not speak for the entire Party. It is not a cookie cutter party, unlike the Democrats who cut Lieberman loose simply because he pretty much disagreed with the Democratic Party on one issue.
I also think it is quite an accomplishment to reduce the deficit from 600 billion to 400 billion while fighting two wars and having a pork-loving Republican Legislature and a Republican President. I would agree that this is not ideal, and that it would be preferable to do our best to maintain a balanced budget but good news is good news even if many out there see the glass half empty all the time, and wish to force everyone else to see it their way too.
But I enjoy your rants. Don't stop. You make some interesting points.
I would argue that the Republican Party is much closer to being a "cookie-cutter" party than the Democrats. One of the legacies of Republican strategists like Karl Rove has been that the Republican Party has stayed on topic much more than the Democrats. The Democrats can't really come up with a unified message. Instead, they have hundreds of individual messages flying off in many different directions, with the main theme being that they stand for anything other than what the Republicans stand for. In the House especially, the Republicans have been very effective in enforcing party unity. Tom Delay was nicknamed "The Hammer" for his ability to force individual House Members to adhere to the Republican Party line.
I believe that the deficit reduction news is lukewarm at best. If a person was spending extravagently beyond his means, and told me that he only spent $2000 more than his income versus $5000 more than his income, I don't think I would be impressed. If the person was spending beyond his means because of necessities (such as unexpected medical bills), then yes, I would be happy that they were getting their life back on track.
The Republicans have been spending on luxuries all over the place. Budgets have been overflowing with pork, new entitlements (do I dare mention the Medicare Prescription program?), and waste. With a Republican House, Senate, and President, this is inexcusable. In the past, they might have had the excuse that they had to compromise in order to have a Democrat President sign their bills. But with the current state of affairs, the Republican attempts to trumpet "but the deficit is only $450 billion" are just plain sad.
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