Republicans & Conservatives: Archives

I call it the Big Tent dilemma. Grow the party and become inclusive and you have to incorporate ideas and policies that will appease those new found supporters. It is getting harder and harder to tell Democrats from Republicans when it comes to fiscal issues. And that spells deep deficits, huge debt and interest payments, and big trouble for our country. The balance is gone.

Despite my Libertarian tendencies, I usually vote Republican because I want to have some actual say over who gets elected. Despite their leftist drift, Repubs still generally oppose big government as the cure-all for everyone’s personal problems. Well…okay, at least Ronald Reagan felt that way.

Anyway, after watching the convention this week, I wondered what would happen if someone like…say, P.J. O’Rourke was a serious contender for President. Smaller government?? Personal freedom?? Individual Responsibility?? It would be instant apoplexy at the DNC.

If you think obnoxious and uncivil Democrat agitators made fools of themselves in New York, just imagine what the circus would have been at a similar sized convention of Libertarians. New York would look like a Woodstock class reunion — stuck in the seventies and unable to break out. Okay, so it sort of looked like that anyway, but it would have been much worse.

Anyway, speaking of anti-[insert your cause] protesters, I also wondered why these clowns don’t protest at Kerry rallies. After all, he’s the big war hero with a chest full of medals that he said he received while committing war crimes. Where is the outrage?

Can you say “double standard”? I knew you could.

The same fear that drives so many on the right toward what they perceive to be shoot first and ask questions later leader, the same fear that drives them into instantaneous ‘let’s you and him fight’ mode, the same fear that comes from being surrounded by people who think and feel differently, is the same fear that keeps Republican’s from exercising freedom of speech without a cordon of firepower and security on their side to protect them.

The lefties who turned out in estimated thousands and thousands in N.Y, may be whacky for not bowing and paying homage King George, but, they sure as hell aren’t afraid of Republicans, Government, or police power. And you know what, in a nation with a Constitution like ours, they shouldn’t be afraid to assemble and speak their mind.

So yes, that is a good question. Where were the Republican demonstrations at the Democratic Convention? A few hundred brave souls as I recall. Well, that’s a start.

Where were the Republican demonstrations at the Democratic Convention? A few hundred brave souls as I recall. Well, that’s a start.

Most of them eventually grew up and started protesting at the ballot box where it counts.