Cynical Nation

This is exactly why the real Republicans in Congress loose their nerve. The people they counted on for support get all demoralized and metrosexual.

Stop trying to be Hamlet on the Hudson.

This is the natural schism within the GOP and it shows why the Republican Party is NOT a natural home for working and Middle Class Americans.

In the wake of the "Carter debacle," millions of working and Middle Class Americans switched allegiances to become "Reagan Democrats" and abandoned that Party to its Liberal-Left fringe.

The problem is that the Blue Blood, Country Club Republicans are generally as socially Liberal and anathema to smaller government as any Liberal Democrat is.

That's the dilemma that the American Middle Class has found itself in, when Democrats are in power it's higher taxes, race/gender preferences and a theraputic approach to violent crime, and when the GOP assumes power, its huge deficit spending, a mammoth Security Apparatus (both Military & Civilian - Police and First Responders) and a still bigger, bloated government.

The GOP always explains away this betrayal as "compromising with the Moderate (read northeast) wing of our Party."

Perhaps abandoning the Democratic party was the wrong strategy. Perhaps the American Middle Class should look to taking back the Democratic Party and expunging its Liberal base (most of them would be just as happy voting for the Socialist Workers Party anyway) and moving toward becoming some form of populist, Libertarian Party, and a real alternative to the GOP.

That way there'd be a real choice between a more Libertarian/open marketed America and the Corporatist model of the GOP.

Unfortunately, we don't have that choice, we only get choose between two versions of big government - the Democrat's Nanny State or the GOP's Daddy State.

JMK

Mike Reagan. He'd be great. But, Barry, as we all know, the people who SHOULD be president are often the ones smart enough not to run. Except for Truman. Response to JMK: I say we do away with parties in general. Loyalty to a party seems to compromise a lot of principles for people, and there is a reason the founding fathers wanted to avoid political factions. Instead of finding an alternative to the GOP, why don't we do away with all parties, and start voting based on a candidate's amount of common sense.

I'd like to see how Rudy Giuliani handles being a Governor first. I have some doubts that what made him a successful mayor of NYC will translate into being a good President.

Don't know what to do, eh?
Here's my advise: focus your intensity on local and state elections, where you can make the biggest difference, particularly by working to keep people in your area more informed on things that are far more often overlooked than anything in the national light.

There will be many who come together to fight for spending cuts, and we should continue to lend our support to that. But we have to be aware of our own limits--no individual citizen is going to make a gigantic difference. It wouldn't be a democracy then, would it? But we all have our areas of influence, and the state and local level are not only where we have the greatest impact, but also the most neglected subject.

Anyway, that's my perscription. Feel free to get a second opinion ;)

I just read "That Guy"s comment...and you are my hero, That Guy. I can't stand party loyalty. This november, I'm probably going to be voting a Democrat for governor, a Republican for Lt. Governor, a Republican for Attorney General, and a Democrat for my local district. But that doesn't really tell you anything about any of those candidates, does it?

Jesse Ventura.

...what?

In response to That Guy, I think that doing away with all political Parties, would be a fine idea, but a difficult one logistically.

The political system is run, by and large by and for the benefit of the "political class," mostly lawyers.

They go into politics, when they fail or their popularity wanes they simply turn into Lobbyists, or get appointed to some lifetime sinecure, like a judgeship, by Party bosses.

That's the reason that so many Republicans became tepid on Term Limits once in Office, and why big spending became so hard a trap for so many of them to avoid.

Loyalty to political Parties is a big part of the problem, so is ignorance of the issues for a large segment of the voting public, but perhaps the biggest problem of all is the political class itself, which does its best to "rig the system," especially on the local level.

Look at NY State, in most Upstate and Long Island towns it's nearly impossible to win as a Democrat and vice versa in many parts of NYC. The professional pols merely carve up districts and maintain a "genetleman's arrangement" between the two "competing" Parties.

JMK

I think you're getting it. John McCain is the best hope for restoring fiscal conservatism to the Republican party. There are also some good governors, but until one throws his hat in the ring, McCain's the only real option for fiscal conservatives.