America the, well, not beautiful, but pretty

Well, since this is my first “real” post, as in, first post with some meaty content, I'd better make it good- It had better create some kind of drama.

I'd like to take a moment to consider something. Why is it that everyone wants to be moderate these days? I mean, I'm all for compromise, but when you let your core values be blended into the taupe colored sludge that is moderate politics, well, you loose all credibility. You loose all sense of any kind of passion.

“I'm passionate about, well, mediocrity!”

C'mon. Today's politicians seem to want to be just liberal enough to not be a bible thumping fundamentalist, and just conservative enough to not be poorly aging hippies. Honestly, that makes for ineffective politics- on the “conservative” side, you have no real defense of morals and spending that would put any Democrat's head in a spin. On the liberal side you have no real defense of civil rights, since that's too “liberal” an issue to take up without ending up a pariah, and you won't spend what's needed where.

Why can't we have REAL stances. As much as I detest him and his body of work, at least Strom Thurman had a sense of what he was: a conservative- 100%. There's many die hard liberals that haven't fallen victim to malicious redistricting, but they are slowly being replaced by mediocre, moderate, and incompetent legislators.

Even look at our Presidential Campaign. Kerry was constantly battered by his “liberal” stances and his “un-patriotic” Global Test. Now, that, to me seems like a very moderate, compromising position. Exactly what our country does not need at the moment.

You Support Bush???

An emphatic NO to that question. I haven't come close to supporting him since 2000. I would have voted for Bush in 2000, but that was before I knew that he'd go back on SEVERAL planks of his platform (Nation Building, Spending, Etc, Etc....)

What would you suggest, then?

Well, part of me wants to say, “Let's have true Democracy! Vote For the Candidate you think is best!” But then I stop, think about how that would ensure more moderate victories across the nation.

Perhaps the best solution, in my opinion, is for the Democrats to run a real liberal. Scout from the Green Party. Scout from Socialist, or even (and this would be my choice) the Libertarian Party.

I know, when you think Libertarian you don't really think “liberal”, but think about it- In today's political climate, Libertarians are becoming more and more liberal, rather than conservative. The traditional Libertarian value of personal freedom is becoming less and less a “conservative” agenda item. “Conservatives” seem more interested into peeking into bedrooms, kitchens, televisions and computers than actually thinking about how there's such a thing as privacy rights in this country. Libertarians are in favor of a more sensible drug policy. For more info head over to www.lp.org www.ssdp.org , www.csdp.org, and www.efsdp.org .

In summation, don't settle for a mediocre candidate. I know that this is a little bit late for November 2004, but there are local elections on a regular basis, and you CAN make a difference.

Well, thus begins the blog. That was pretty painless, and not too deep of analysis, but I promise that we'll get into deeper political theory (though not often, unless I find something that really lights a fire under me, since I realize it's pretty dry material).

Until next time,

Larry