What the debates have taught me

Larry Kudlow over at National Review Online raises the question are we all Democrats now? The column then goes on to discuss the differences between the parties in strictly economic terms.

To me the question goes much deeper then that. Both political parties have changed at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century. I have issues with both but it is only the Democrats that truly scare me. The Democrats have taken a hard left turn in their policies in all matters, driven purely by the need to gain power.

They do not seem to stand to for anything other then what will return them to power. Fueled by aging hippies and people who view the heydays of America as being the Clinton years. Just to be clear, I do not think the Clinton years were the hey day of America, rather it was a period of denial and time spent in the belief that there was nothing wrong in the world and all that mattered was having fun and not letting any of the ugliness of the world intrude on our national feel good party.

Well, shortly after he left office we tragically found out things were not right in the world and that no matter how much we wanted to believe that the world was all sunshine and lollipops that is not the case. Even today the Democrats labor under the impression that if we leave them alone, radical Islamists, they will leave us alone. Somebody needs to tell that to the people of Thailand, the Philippines, Denmark, France and everywhere else where the party of perpetual outrage exerts influence.

Just to make myself clear I think the Democrat party in America today is nothing more then the 21st century version of communism. They pray at the altar of power and none of their bleeding heart, eye moisturizing stories and feel good policies are designed for anything more then wresting control from the people and placing it into the hands of those select few who "know" what is best for the rest of us.

With that being said about the Democrats, the Republicans, also seeking nothing but power appear to now be willing to compromise on those things which, I feel, make us as individuals strong. Self reliance, taking responsibility for our actions, and realizing that actions have consequences. They too have fallen prey to mass market media and the populace in general whereby sound policies or standing for your beliefs are now thrown overboard in the interest of getting your 15 second sound bite on the evening news and where being liked is more important then being a leader.

The Republicans running today for president with few exceptions, Thompson and Hunter being those exceptions, just are not gaining traction because Americans want to once again retreat back into their own private worlds and not be concerned with the bad things and people out there. Even those who consider themselves Republicans are content to turn over the tough decisions in their lives over to a faceless machine known as government.

After all, isn't it far easier to throw your hands up in the air and say hey it's the law rather then doing what is right on your own without being told? Most people who call themselves Republicans today are like the Democrats of the 80's. They are willing to compromise on issues just to shut up the outcry from the other side and get on with their lives.

The old "can't we all get along?" Well folks the truth is no we can't all get along. When the playground bully finds out he can get your lunch money with just a spoken threat it isn't too long before he finds out that with physical violence he can get you to steal your parents credit cards or raid your mom's purse for even more protection money. That is how the left, with their vast army of enablers, manage to push forward their agenda while the "can't we all get along" Republicans continue to raid mommies purse.

Case study to prove the point is John Edwards. Proclaims to come from a family whose head of household worked in the mills and completely glosses over the fact that he got to be a multi millionaire by suing the pants off of parties in the health care and health insurance industry and even today campaigns on a platform of those evil corporations. Hey John, those evil corporations are the ones who provide the jobs to the very people you claim to represent, yet nobody calls him on it because we all want to get along.

Granted with the way the population in America is today you will not get elected without either as blog after blog will tell you when complaining about their candidate not getting enough face time on tv. The attention span of the average American being such as it is and the sources of information for most Americans does not involve looking it up on the web, but rather from entertainment news shows and the late night comedians.

When Fred launches into an explanation of his stance on an issues in response to a question you can see the eyes glazing over. That is because if the answer doesn't fit into a 30 second commercial or the problems can't be solved in a 30 minute sitcom like on tv they don't want to hear it. They never stop to fully appreciate that being leader of the free world is not a show which you can pause and have the answer right after the break.

My question for the people who consider themselves Republicans is do you still consider yourself conservatives? If John McCain can rise to the top of the polls for the Republicans the obvious answer is no. There is no other person running under the Republican banner who typifies this attitude then him. He has made more deals with Teddy Kennedy then prosecutors who never pursue him for his violations of the law.
Huckabee is just another slick talking former governor of Arkansas.

He is the Republican Bill Clinton. Makes good sound bites but has lousy policies and a very poor understanding of how the world works. There are privates in Iraq who can give a better synopsis of the dynamics of our efforts in Iraq and the long term ramifications of our policies there then he can.

So bottom line. The Democrats in my view are nothing but communists with a good PR machine and the Republicans can no longer lay claim to being a party of conservatives.