Liberal vs Conservative--Is that the only way? Y'know, it's late at night and I've already had too many beers. So I'll keep it short and maybe expand on the ideas in a later post.

I'm a conservative. You know--small government, low taxes, individual freedoms and responsibility, family values. But recently I've been listening, via podcasts, to a lot of Air America Radio. Recent titles include The Randi Rhodes Show, The Al Franken Show, and Morning Sedition. In the five years and some months since GW Bush took over the presidency of the US I have lost respect for him and his policies continually with every passing month.

I can't prove it, so you'll have to take my word for it, but I anticipated (from the comfort of my quarterback armchair) a lot of what has happened since 9/11. Bush's over-reaction of taking America to war, the spiraling insurgency in Iraq, the decreasing security of Americans around the globe as a result, the takeover of Islamic religious fundamentalists in Iraq (not yet complete, but likely), and the egregious infringements on personal liberty and privacy within the US that have followed. In fact, I even foresaw the abuse and atrocities commited by a few US military people, telling a relative in the US it was only a matter of time. I was not alone. Others in the media, left, right and center, were calling for caution.

Bush's downgrading of FEMA, installing of unqualified cronies into important political positions, and consistent distortion of the truth to further his own agenda have led me to believe that the time has come for him to be sidelined by Congress, either through impeachment, or an ongoing blockade of his policies. Surely, his gross incompetence has now become apparent to anyone not blinded by rose-colored partisan glasses.

What strikes me now is the opportunity provided by Bush's incompetence for both the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress and throughout the nation to seek common ground. There is so much that we can agree on, starting with putting an end to GW's self-destructive policies at home and abroad. If we were busy and united in promoting the causes which we share, we'd have little time to fight over the other things.

No one that I know, liberal or conservative, wants the government dictating religious observances or dogma. Surely that could be a starting point for a search for common ground. No one I know thinks that assault weapons, rocket launchers and mortars should be available for purchase at Wal-Mart. Common ground. And few people I talk to think that abortion is a wonderful means of contraception, the more the better. Common ground. Everyone wants only the taxes that are absolutely necessary, and then that money wisely used. Everyone wants good schools. Everyone wants a secure homeland, a stable economy, a comfortable home and a decent job with health and retirement benefits.

So much common ground!!! We may disagree on the means to achieve these goals, but surely we have a basis for calm, rational discussion. And compromise.

Many of the facts of GW's leadership lead both conservatives and liberals to question the direction he is taking our nation. Moves to undercut social security, the spiraling national debt, the violence carried out domestically and abroad in the name of "the war on terror," the expensive and unwinnable "war on drugs," the erosion of personal privacy, the degradation of the national infrastructure. Mercenaries hired by the GWB administration make ten times the salary of a US soldier in Iraq for doing the same job, while those same mercenaries go house-to-house in New Orleans turning citizens out of their homes and confiscating their meager weapons of self-defense. These things should be of grave concern to ALL Americans.

Unbelievable opportunity thrust into our hands. Ironically, the GW Bush presidency could serve as the catalyst for a new generation of cooperation and progress rarely seen in US politics.

That can only happen, though, if cooler heads prevail. Both conservative and liberal commentators and columnists, pundits and analysists, have resorted all too often to childish name calling and unproductive rants. One radio personality this week said of Bush, "He's such a baby," and then went on to rant and rave as if he, himself, were pre-pubescent. Friends, we MUST raise the level of discourse.

Yes, we find the lies, deception, narcissism, cronyism, and insensitivity of this administration abominable. Yes, we want judges and justices that will uphold and protect Americans from tyranny, even presidential tyranny and "tyranny of the majority." But we must be both intelligent and mature in our fight. We need to find our own Karl Roves, with savvy and spunk to manage both the battles and war into victory, but simultaneously commited to an ethical standard which professes that the means are just as important as the ends.

The characterization of Republicans as "small government, low taxes" is not accurate. (How much has the deficit grown under GW?) Neither is the characterization of Democrats as "tax and spend." (Who was the last president to balance the budget and create even a budget surplus?)

All Americans want taxes as low as possible with services as high as possible, though we may disagree on where exactly that line may be. No problem! Where we agree let's get moving, where we disagree let's try to find reasonable compromises. But let's not let ideology warp our perceptions or our actions. Focusing on the goals and then reasoning together to find acceptable paths to those goals will make our nation great once again. For in the eyes of the world, we have most certainly stumbled. An unjustified war based on the manipulations of corrupt politicians, a natural disaster that exposed the ugly underside of American poverty, racism and political cronyism, an inconsistent foreign policy based not on promoting democracy and human rights, but on serving the interests of the multi-national corporations that fund the political machinery, government contracts that enrich friends of the ruling elite, an an environmental policy seemingly destined to poison the soil and envelop America and the world in a choking cloud of dust, toxins and heat.

Make no mistake. The world does not see America as great today. We must do better. And it seems we cannot while GW Bush is at the helm.  ¶ 9/16/2005 09:03:00 PM