A sad day
This blog was born over at Blog Studio in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election and the Democratic attempt to steal Florida and the election. It reached its peak during the 2004 campaign, when it was part of the most effective coalition of political blogs in history, Blogs for Bush- now Blogs for Victory.
Sadly, the same extremism, malice, and general venality that marked the behavior of so many Democrats during the Bush administration has become too commonplace among Republicans during the Obama administration to ignore. And I find myself fighting a two-front war now, against the Far Right as well as the Far Left. My belief that health care and other services which are beyond the reach of many Americans ought to be treated as human rights, guaranteed by the government when individual resources and the free market fails, has raised certain problems with my thinking of myself as a conservative, given popular definitions of the term on the Right; in fact, were it not for abortion and other social issues, as well as certain defense, security and foreign policy matters, I would probably fit in the Democratic party better than in the Republican.After all, I voted Democratic in my first five presidential elections, and finally balked at Bill Clinton.
My disgust at the religious bigotry against Muslims which has become pandemic on the Right has reinforced my uneasiness. As outrageous as it is for extremist organizations on the Left to accuse all Tea Party members or conservatives of racism or other forms of bigotry, it would be absurd to pretend that the problem doesn't exist at all. And I frankly have a hard time distingushing between certain forms of libertarian thinking and liberalism at its most obnoxious. I think Robert Bork was right on target when he suggested that libertarians are actually a strange kind of hybrid of liberal and conservative, in my view combining the worst charactristics of each.
As a result, after a great deal of soul-searching, I have decided to change my voter registration from Republican to Independent. I do this reluctantly, but it's a step which I feel compelled to take. The fact is that Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan are at least as alien to me politically as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and in some ways perhaps even more so. Sadly, it seems that I can find common cause neither entirely on the Right nor on the Left, and must therefore, in all integrity, stand alone.
Today I wrote to Blogs for Victory and asked that this blog- one of the first to join the original Blogs for Bush blogroll early in the 2004 campaign- be removed. This is a sad day, but one that has been coming for a while. Regrettably, I think it's necessary if I'm going to stand where I need to stand: against irresponsibility, extremism and silliness on the Right as well as on the Left, and in favor of thoughtful common sense as opposed to rigid ideology.
Sadly, the same extremism, malice, and general venality that marked the behavior of so many Democrats during the Bush administration has become too commonplace among Republicans during the Obama administration to ignore. And I find myself fighting a two-front war now, against the Far Right as well as the Far Left. My belief that health care and other services which are beyond the reach of many Americans ought to be treated as human rights, guaranteed by the government when individual resources and the free market fails, has raised certain problems with my thinking of myself as a conservative, given popular definitions of the term on the Right; in fact, were it not for abortion and other social issues, as well as certain defense, security and foreign policy matters, I would probably fit in the Democratic party better than in the Republican.After all, I voted Democratic in my first five presidential elections, and finally balked at Bill Clinton.
My disgust at the religious bigotry against Muslims which has become pandemic on the Right has reinforced my uneasiness. As outrageous as it is for extremist organizations on the Left to accuse all Tea Party members or conservatives of racism or other forms of bigotry, it would be absurd to pretend that the problem doesn't exist at all. And I frankly have a hard time distingushing between certain forms of libertarian thinking and liberalism at its most obnoxious. I think Robert Bork was right on target when he suggested that libertarians are actually a strange kind of hybrid of liberal and conservative, in my view combining the worst charactristics of each.
As a result, after a great deal of soul-searching, I have decided to change my voter registration from Republican to Independent. I do this reluctantly, but it's a step which I feel compelled to take. The fact is that Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan are at least as alien to me politically as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and in some ways perhaps even more so. Sadly, it seems that I can find common cause neither entirely on the Right nor on the Left, and must therefore, in all integrity, stand alone.
Today I wrote to Blogs for Victory and asked that this blog- one of the first to join the original Blogs for Bush blogroll early in the 2004 campaign- be removed. This is a sad day, but one that has been coming for a while. Regrettably, I think it's necessary if I'm going to stand where I need to stand: against irresponsibility, extremism and silliness on the Right as well as on the Left, and in favor of thoughtful common sense as opposed to rigid ideology.
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