So everyone is getting ready for the Super Bowl or Super Tuesday depending on your focus (maybe both) and I was reading Yahoo News and saw that Hillary has stated that "... she might be willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance." Yeah, this is a really free market approach to the problem. I can't believe that a potential majority of Americans will vote based on either what will be given to them by the Government or what will be taken away from someone else by the Government. But as the saying goes "Hey, I got mine..."
So I had wanted to write about this a little earlier (while the presidential field was a little more open) but I have always heard from my progressive friends how much they welcome and champion diversity. Well, in this election period where do you find the richest, diverse set of candidates? Well submitted for your approval, my thoughts on this.
On the Democratic side you had as your front runners, three lawyers who mostly corporate experience. None had military background that I aware of but all have been elected Senators but have very little legislative experience outside of the Senate. All three are extremely pro-choice, against the war (vowing to withdraw from Iraq ASAP), anti-gun, pro illegal immigration, environmentally extremists, pro-big Government solutions, encourage class warfare and are in favor of rolling back tax cuts to higher confiscatory rates to pay for universal health care. Oh and they are for Gay Marriage, repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and would allow Homosexuals to serve openly in the Military (Doing away with Don't ask/Don't tell). Obviously with John Edwards out of the race, there really isn't much of a difference between Hillary and Obama. Either way the country loses.
On the Republican side we have a experienced Senator who is also a decorated veteran, a successful business man who not only has been involved in some high profile business ventures but also was a successful Governor of a very Blue state. We have a accomplished Mayor of New York City who was the national face of 9-11 during the days after the attack when all Americans were comforted by his handling of the situation, another candidate is a medical doctor. The positions that these candidates held were (to repeat the word) diverse. One candidate was against the Iraqi War (and against many of the interventionist measures this administration has undertaken), many of the candidates were pro-life but one maintained his pro-choice stance (a matter of personal belief). There were candidates that were for civil unions and candidates that were for enacting tough global warming legislation (just as there were candidates that were against such measures). There were candidates that had opposed the President's tax cuts and there were those that felt that the tax cuts were too little. The candidates differed on stem cell research, parental notification laws, assault weapons bans, and many other areas (including religion with candidates being Roman Catholic, Mormon and Evangelical as well).
This data can all be found at the Family Research Council Voters Guide - found here. The interesting this is that there is so much more diversity on the Republican side and the Democrats are much more in line with a single set of issues. I don't think though that this is a good thing for the Republicans who have eschewed core values for the designate of a "Big Tent" Party. How do you resolve issues such as abortion, gun control, War on Terror within a party such as this? Is it worth it to have the Media talk about diversity while the party message gets diluted since there are so many factions within it? I don't see the Democrats worried that they will be seen as a party not very diverse (where is their pro-life candidate?). I have heard that Reagan built this great coalition and brought all these diverse groups together. Well there isn't someone out there currently that can do that in my opinion and I feel the Republican party will not unite behind McCain which will guarantee a Democrat in the White House. Next time someone tells me that the Republican party needs to encourage such a big tent philosophy I have to ask why the Democrats don't seem too concerned about the Dems who might be Pro-life or pro Second Amendment. Why don't they have a few conservative speakers at their convention when the Republicans fall over themselves to have people like Colin Powell bellow out how they are pro-choice and for affirmative action. Why does the Republican Party feel it needed (needs) to sell its soul and message? I got no response...except that John McCain is reminding me a lot of Bob Dole...and we all know what happened to him.
OS
No comments:
Post a Comment