Comments Posted By Fang
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@JoyousMN
Very well said.
Why would I want to vote Republican? First, on a personal level, they apparently have no room for my friends and family who are gay, not Christian, not white, believe in the importance of science and reason, etc.
Secondly, what have they done for me and my country that should make me credit the party AT THIS TIME, as being capable of solving problems. The Democrats at least seem to pay some lip service to improving things and working on solutions.
As far as I can tell, the Republican leadership wants me to vote for them because otherwise they'll yell at me and call me names. Not appealing at all.
I am very pleased to see discussions like this on the future of the Republican Party. It is my hope, however small, that these kinds of discussions will spread. Because we ALL need to start thinking about solving problems, we got enough of them.
Comment Posted By Fang On 3.11.2009 @ 01:46
I left the Republican party over time in college, oddly not due to the usual college-makes-you-liberal stereotype you hear but my exposure to many different governing ideas, and the fact that even in the late 80's I could see something going very wrong with the party.
The best way I can put the Republican problem is this: inconsistency.
There IS no consistent Republican ideology where the values, actions, and results of those actions line up. You can't have endless war and save money. You can't torture and support freedom. You can't keep cutting taxes as a solution when that doesn't solve the problem. You can't expect a functioning society when you cater to religious radicals. Schizmogenesis, to yank out a rather obscure psychosocial term.
All the publicity stunts and campaigns that leveraged anti-intellectualism and soforth are coming home to roost.
This leads to an additional issue - even if the party wins, it looses. Yes it may win some elections, but if it does so by further riling up the Teabagger crowd, it's further selling it's soul. Winning consistently means that you can solve problems - the anti-intellectualism you mention CANNOT solve problems.
If you want Republican victory, show that the party can solve problems (and prevent them). The party does not seem to be interested in solving problems, it seems to be interested in publicity stunts and pandering.
What's needed is a resurgence of intellectualism in the Republican party.
Comment Posted By Fang On 2.11.2009 @ 20:08
