The Liquor Talking

It’s Thursday, January 21, 2010 and we debut a new weekly feature:

This stupid, two-party political system has run its course and it’s time for it to go away.

Unless you’re just now tuning in, you know that I’m a hard-core conservative. This in no way implies that I’m a republican. While going down the lists of core values, I trend toward the Republican Party on some key issues, I have serious umbrage with several of their positions and actions. Similarly, the democrats hold beliefs that track with mine. Both parties seem stuck in some futile attempt to be a one-size-fits-all party.

I’m sorry, but I’m not a centrist. I’m way, way over to the right. So far to the right that I have major disconnects with the Republican Party. I don’t think I’m alone here. Just because I agree with some things from the democrats and some things from the republicans doesn’t mean I’m middle of the road.

For instance, I am a firm believer that the rights of the individual are paramount. We are a republic and the US Constitution is designed so that it is difficult for a simple majority to run roughshod over the rights of the individual. However, the Republican Party is largely against same-sex marriage.

And so am I. I believe homosexuality is a sin and am morally offended by its public display. I however believe it to be far outside the scope of government to criminalize sin. No, I’m not talking about crimes where another is injured (murder, theft, ect.) but rather withholding a right enjoyed by other citizens, when there’s no valid reason to do so. I’m not for same-sex marriage. I’m against banning it. It appears that some truths are not self-evident to the Republican Party. You get life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but only for as long as you don’t offend my moral sensibilities. Republicans are about equality for some.

This is largely due to the Republican Party deriving much of its base from the “religious right.” This baffles me. From one side of our face, we rail about defending individual liberties, yet from the other want to trample the rights of citizens because they’re homosexual.

Likewise, I am four-square opposed to the Republican Party’s position on abortion. No, I’m not pro-abortion. Quite the contrary. I believe that life begins at conception and that the fetus, regardless of some arbitrary stage of development, is entitled to every right afforded a born citizen. The republicans oppose abortion as well, but not to the degree that I require and I could not possibly care less about the religious ramifications. This is an unborn, US citizen we’re talking about. That is what I’m talking about.

But it’s also a place where the democrats are yacking out both sides of their face. Center to their philosophy is protecting the weakest members. Who is weaker than the unborn? I guess you have to be born first in order to be at a disadvantage. Or maybe you don’t count until you’re old enough to vote, but whatever the case, I’m all for a woman being in control of her own body, but once that egg is fertilized, she’s not alone in there anymore.

I’m for less government. I want just enough to government to fulfill the responsibilities mandated by the US Constitution and NO MORE! By my estimation we have about two to three times the government we need to

• form a more perfect Union,
  
• establish Justice,
  
• insure domestic Tranquility,
  
• provide for the common defence,
  
• promote the general Welfare, and
  
• secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.
  

If it’s not one of these things, then it’s outside what We The People command and not within the purview of the US Government. Granted, just about any activity can be shoehorned into one of the above mandates, but if you’ve got to do any mental gymnastics at all to justify it, you’re probably wrong.

It baffles me again how we saw such a huge expansion of government and governmental intrusion into our privacy under a republican president. Yep 9/11 was a huge and nasty wake up call. We have enemies that are willing to go to extraordinary measures to kill us. Our response as a nation was totally wrong.

I’m amazed that the Patriot Act and the creation of the Dept of Homeland Security occurred under a republican president. Well, a president that was elected on the republican ticket anyway. This was the single largest expansion of government in my lifetime. Yes, this is an enemy unlike any we’ve had before, but the answer is not fettering the very citizens we’re trying to protect. I have to take my shoes off to get on a plane? The feds can intercept and read even my encrypted email without a court order and without EVER notifying me? No, no, no… this would not have been the response had Ronald Reagan been president on 9/11 and I imagine that the map of the Middle East would look noticeably different.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take measures to ensure our safety, but rather that a HUGE part of this being “at war” involves actively seeking out, engaging and destroying utterly our enemies.

And their allies and their supporters.

I’m just saying we’re too much on making people take off their shoes and not enough on dropping bombs on suspected bad guys.

There are parts of the democratic party that appeal to me too. That whole protect our weakest members thing, I’m down with that. Like the song says “it won’t be long ‘til I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.” As much as I want need to believe in the fundamental goodness of people, I’d just as soon make sure that the goodness is gonna be there when I need it. Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare, these are necessary services. I’m a little aggravated at the number of people “needing” these programs and the costs involved, but for reasons that escape me, the democrats are the champions of the underserved and disenfranchised.

While we’re at it, how come the democrats are the arbiters of women’s rights? I’m big on women’s rights. Republicans are supposed to be about earning what you get and getting what you earn. How come the republicans are the ones fighting equal pay legislation. Well, republicans that don’t ever get laid anyhow.

I’m wondering how much of this shit is just arbitrary. That guy is for this, he’s a ____________, and I’m a _________, so I’m against whatever he’s for! I mean I’m all for clean air and water, and I in fact like the notion of taxing the hell out of polluters, but this cap and trade bullshit is just another good idea, grabbed up by politicians and ran into the ground. It seems pretty damned easy to me.

Okay, you’re a coal-fired power plant. You’re allowed to put n pounds of gunk into the air and x gallons of gunk into the water. Go above these amounts and you’re gonna get taxed on exponential curve. No, you can’t buy credits from that grocery store. You pollute a little, you pay a little. You pollute a lot and you pay through the nose. So, you’d better find a cleaner way to produce electricity from coal, because your competition is already working on it. Same-same for you, mister refinery and same-same for you, mister paper mill. To hell with the trade part of it. Just tax the shit out of the polluters.

But that doesn’t fit into a democratic or republican model.

So it’s time to do away with this insane, unsustainable, two-party system. No, introducing a third (or fourth or nth) party won’t solve the problem either. We need to do away with the party system altogether and have candidates run on their individual merits. No more political megabucks shenanigans. Just regular people, running on the value of their convictions.

It’s just when I get off my meds (or better still, pick my own) that stuff like this happens:

Another day without Chris. Another day of talking Lynette out of driving to Cody to murder him.