Politics makes strange bedfellows. The Republican party has had a marriage of convenience between the smart, urban professionals, business owners, executives and highly-paid white collar workers who could care less about legislating morality, and are the best customers of casinos, escort services and the local pot dealer on one hand, and the Far-Far out there, radical fundamentalist NeoCon wacko nut-jobs who have turned the teachings of Christ into a doctrine of fear, loathing, hatred, war, persecution, intolerance and sheer ignorance on the other. The two segments of the party often hate each other almost as much as they do the Liberals.
Let's get a divorce, kick the Fundamentalist nutjobs out and let the
NeoCons form their own quasi-religious, anti-evolution, anti-freedom,
pro-war, anti-education, anti-health care, anti-environment party of
fear and hatred. If we don't, their brand of politics will slowly
poison the Republican Party until we are so far out of the mainstream that we will be
marginalized.
I believe the Fundamentalist NeoCons should have their own party and give the GOP back to the people who believe in:
1. Personal Freedom.
2. Small Government.
3. Lower Taxes.
4. The job of the courts is to interpret the Constitution, NOT to legislate the NeoCon version of morality.
5. Strong defense, but NOT pre-emptive war, except when there is imminent danger to the U.S.
6. A strong industrial base equals a strong economy.
7. Low immigration means lower unemployment and better jobs for Americans.
8. Free enterprise is the mortal enemy of monopolies and oligopolies. Instead of "Too big to fail", many companies are too big to exist. The Anti-Trust laws should be used to break up all of the monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies into competing businesses.
9. Fair and sensible regulation of business is as necessary as a police force, for the purpose of ensuring that businesses are moral corporate citizens and those that break the law should be punished severely.
10. The purpose of free enterprise is for the benefit of the people. Businesses do NOT have the right to strip the land of its vital resources, pollute the water supply, and contribute to global warming for the purpose of short-term profit.
11. Energy independence is a matter of both our economic future and national security, and should be a high priority.
12. To remain competitive in the world market, all American children should be insured the right to a quality education. The top 20% of students should be given free tuition to the college of their choice, if they are willing to complete 2 years of government service upon graduation.
13. The government has no business trying to legislate morality. It is time to call an end to the drug war, and treat drug addicts as victims, not criminals. It is time to legalize prostitution and regulate it, for the health and safety of the population. It is time to legalize gambling, with severe restrictions. The government should separate itself from making moral decisions for the populace. The people should have the freedom to make their own mistakes.
14. Health care should be the responsibility of the government, not a free enterprise system. There are certain services that the government should provide, like schools, hospitals, fire fighters, police and the postal service. That doesn't mean that private enterprise can't maintain their own private schools, hospitals, security guards, etc. for those of us who are wealthy enough to be able to afford them; it just means that the government has a responsibility to provide them for the rest of us.
15. Bigotry and hatred have no place in the Political arena. Our party should be the party of freedom and small government, not the party that takes away peoples' rights, spends massive amounts of money to finance the occupation of other countries, and tries to rule the world by force and intimidation. We should lead by example instead of forcing other countries to bend to our will.
16. We should fight for a constitutional amendment that forces the government to balance the budget, except for times of war.
17. We should be in favor of reducing the size of government enough to reduce the national debt back to pre-Bush League levels.
18. We should be in favor of keeping the Social Security system financially strong. It should have the right to invest in AAA rated corporate and municipal bonds, as well as Federal Government Treasury Bills. That way, it won't just be used to pay for a massive deficit at the expense of the senior citizens, whose social security checks often aren't enough to pay their bills anymore. The additional income could be used to increase their pensions.
If we have to sell our soul to the devils who call themselves the Fundamentalists and NeoCons, and have to mirror their fear, hatred and bigotry just to win an election, we aren't worthy of being called the Grand Old Party.
Sarah Palin represents the last, best hope of the Fundamentalist hate-mongers. Her message resonates with her base. Let's hope that, like a group of lemmings, they follow their pie-eyed piper OUT of the Republican party. Let them drown in a sea of their own hatred, but don't let them take the Grand Old Party down with them.