Up until around 2018, I was a Republican. I still believe in the classic Republican tenets -- small government, strong military, keeping governmental interference in the economy to a minimum, etc.
But I can't stomach the recent tolerance for disinformation, conspiracy theories, outright lies, violence against governmental institutions, and marginalizing populations perceived as weak. So I no longer consider myself a member of the party.
I also can't stomach the glassy-eyed utopianism of much of the Democratic party. So I'm now politically homeless.
The Democratic Party is blowing a chance to have power for a generation. They're doing it by hating Donald Trump and his minions so much that they define themselves as being, "not them."
The problem there is they don't define what they are.
Polls show that the country as a whole is still center to slightly center-right. They're not comfortable with unrestricted third-trimester abortion. They're not comfortable teaching that anyone has inherent character traits based on skin color. They're not comfortable with no police, jails, or prison and no prosecution for minor shoplifting. They're not comfortable with not prosecuting a threat to society because of his skin color and past injustices suffered by people who share nothing with the perp other than skin color. They don't think that the best schools can stay the best by allocating admission by lottery. Merit matters. They believe that the brightest and hardest-working students can take the best education and do the most with it. They're not comfortable with people with a history of violence or mental instability having access to 50-round magazines. They're also not comfortable with the specter of Federal regulation of their Remington over/under duck shotgun. They don't believe that the solution to inflation is more spending.
They understand that when you pump $9 Trillion into the economy (3 covid relief packages of roughly $3 Trillion each), you're going to get inflation. My goodness, $9 trillion is almost $26K for every man, woman and child in the country. It's over $100K for a household of 4. And we're gobsmacked that inflation follows? What did you expect was going to happen?
They understand that when you restrict the supply of a commodity (like oil refining capacity), and demand for the commodity (gasoline) goes up, you're going to get rising prices.
They understand that the money for road maintenance has to come from somewhere. If you embark on a federal gasoline tax holiday, are you still going to maintain the roads? With what money?
Enough with the rant. Here's what Democrats could advocate that would be consistent with their principles, and would pass muster with the electorate as a whole:
- Abortion only up to the point of viability outside the womb. 5 months, give or take -- defer to medical consensus on the time frame. Before that, it's mother's choice. After that, you're ending a human life, and there's a presumption of murder.
- We teach our history, warts and all. We also teach that we've learned from that history, and our future is not dictated by our past or our skin color or anything other than our merits.
- We allocate seats at the best schools the way we always have -- by academic ability and achievement.
- We enforce the laws on the books. If we don't want to enforce them, we repeal them, not ignore them.
- We restrict people with a history of violence of any kind from possession of firearms. I don't understand the fixation on domestic violence, however it might be defined. Why not dispense with qualifiers, and for these purposes say that violent tendencies, no matter your relationship with the intended victim(s), disqualify you from gun ownership? Same thing for people with a history of mental instability.
We might be willing to talk about restoration of access after a period of good behavior / mental health, but it's a long time -- 10 years strikes me as about right, but I'm open to talks on the specifics.
- We act like the adults in the room on fiscal matters, and don't go effectively trying to buy votes with borrowed money.
- We have a well-articulated policy on fossil fuels, energy, and transportation infrastructure. If we want to encourage non-fossil fuel energy, we say that. We also acknowledge that there is no free lunch and the policy will entail higher gasoline, natural gas and electricity prices, and we will live with that for the sake of the planet. We also state how we plan to pay for road maintenance -- Teslas put about the same wear and tear on the roads as Toyota Camrys. We meter energy used to charge vehicles and tax it at the source just like we do gasoline.
OR
- We say that, for the time being, fossil fuels are literally the energy that drives the economy and our daily lives. We throw off restrictions on refining capacity, get the lower gasoline prices we want, and live with the fact that it will delay clean energy until clean becomes less expensive than fossil.
- We advocate the original Obamacare. We state that everyone must have health insurance. No exceptions. Can be through a private health insurance company. Can be through a government program into which participants will pay. But everyone has to have it. Again, no exceptions.
Bottom Line: I truly believe the Democratic party has gotten so blinded by its hatred of Donald Trump that it has lost sight of what it is. It should define itself by what it is, not what it isn't.
It should offer the middle 2/3 (geographically and ideologically) of the population ideas they can support.
And it shouldn't let itself get dragged into litmus-test arguments that only thin slivers of the population truly support or are affected by.
If it does, I think it can win. If it doesn't, well, James Carville has already advised (his words, not mine), "Woke got its ass kicked. It's not a winning message."
But I can't stomach the recent tolerance for disinformation, conspiracy theories, outright lies, violence against governmental institutions, and marginalizing populations perceived as weak. So I no longer consider myself a member of the party.
I also can't stomach the glassy-eyed utopianism of much of the Democratic party. So I'm now politically homeless.
The Democratic Party is blowing a chance to have power for a generation. They're doing it by hating Donald Trump and his minions so much that they define themselves as being, "not them."
The problem there is they don't define what they are.
Polls show that the country as a whole is still center to slightly center-right. They're not comfortable with unrestricted third-trimester abortion. They're not comfortable teaching that anyone has inherent character traits based on skin color. They're not comfortable with no police, jails, or prison and no prosecution for minor shoplifting. They're not comfortable with not prosecuting a threat to society because of his skin color and past injustices suffered by people who share nothing with the perp other than skin color. They don't think that the best schools can stay the best by allocating admission by lottery. Merit matters. They believe that the brightest and hardest-working students can take the best education and do the most with it. They're not comfortable with people with a history of violence or mental instability having access to 50-round magazines. They're also not comfortable with the specter of Federal regulation of their Remington over/under duck shotgun. They don't believe that the solution to inflation is more spending.
They understand that when you pump $9 Trillion into the economy (3 covid relief packages of roughly $3 Trillion each), you're going to get inflation. My goodness, $9 trillion is almost $26K for every man, woman and child in the country. It's over $100K for a household of 4. And we're gobsmacked that inflation follows? What did you expect was going to happen?
They understand that when you restrict the supply of a commodity (like oil refining capacity), and demand for the commodity (gasoline) goes up, you're going to get rising prices.
They understand that the money for road maintenance has to come from somewhere. If you embark on a federal gasoline tax holiday, are you still going to maintain the roads? With what money?
Enough with the rant. Here's what Democrats could advocate that would be consistent with their principles, and would pass muster with the electorate as a whole:
- Abortion only up to the point of viability outside the womb. 5 months, give or take -- defer to medical consensus on the time frame. Before that, it's mother's choice. After that, you're ending a human life, and there's a presumption of murder.
- We teach our history, warts and all. We also teach that we've learned from that history, and our future is not dictated by our past or our skin color or anything other than our merits.
- We allocate seats at the best schools the way we always have -- by academic ability and achievement.
- We enforce the laws on the books. If we don't want to enforce them, we repeal them, not ignore them.
- We restrict people with a history of violence of any kind from possession of firearms. I don't understand the fixation on domestic violence, however it might be defined. Why not dispense with qualifiers, and for these purposes say that violent tendencies, no matter your relationship with the intended victim(s), disqualify you from gun ownership? Same thing for people with a history of mental instability.
We might be willing to talk about restoration of access after a period of good behavior / mental health, but it's a long time -- 10 years strikes me as about right, but I'm open to talks on the specifics.
- We act like the adults in the room on fiscal matters, and don't go effectively trying to buy votes with borrowed money.
- We have a well-articulated policy on fossil fuels, energy, and transportation infrastructure. If we want to encourage non-fossil fuel energy, we say that. We also acknowledge that there is no free lunch and the policy will entail higher gasoline, natural gas and electricity prices, and we will live with that for the sake of the planet. We also state how we plan to pay for road maintenance -- Teslas put about the same wear and tear on the roads as Toyota Camrys. We meter energy used to charge vehicles and tax it at the source just like we do gasoline.
OR
- We say that, for the time being, fossil fuels are literally the energy that drives the economy and our daily lives. We throw off restrictions on refining capacity, get the lower gasoline prices we want, and live with the fact that it will delay clean energy until clean becomes less expensive than fossil.
- We advocate the original Obamacare. We state that everyone must have health insurance. No exceptions. Can be through a private health insurance company. Can be through a government program into which participants will pay. But everyone has to have it. Again, no exceptions.
Bottom Line: I truly believe the Democratic party has gotten so blinded by its hatred of Donald Trump that it has lost sight of what it is. It should define itself by what it is, not what it isn't.
It should offer the middle 2/3 (geographically and ideologically) of the population ideas they can support.
And it shouldn't let itself get dragged into litmus-test arguments that only thin slivers of the population truly support or are affected by.
If it does, I think it can win. If it doesn't, well, James Carville has already advised (his words, not mine), "Woke got its ass kicked. It's not a winning message."
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