Crossposted on
Swords Crossed.
Yesterday I woke up feeling weird and wrote a somewhat strange, though heartfelt, first dkos diary entitled I am not sorry (for being a republican). In it I stated that it might be my last diary as well, but now I feel that I owe a follow up to anyone to cares to read it.
I was presumptious and arrogant and for that I apologize because that was not my true intent. If you really read it you'd see that I do not bask in my own rational or intellectual superiority. In fact on the blog where I usually post (SC mentioned above) I easily take the larger portion of the argumentative beatings from the Left and am forced to retreat. While there is virtually no chance of me switching sides, that does not render inter-ideological debate useless as I am always forced to reevaluate my positions and reconsider whether the defenses I use are logical, rational or even fact-based. I hope that I, at least sometimes, challenge the liberals sparring with me to have to come up with new arguments to show me the error of my ways.
Yes, just because I am an unapologetic Rightwinger does not mean that I do not ever admit being wrong (even if just to myself). When I just got out of the Air Force bootcamp, I remember being filled with pride watching President Bush declare war in Iraq. I thought that it would be a lightning and brilliant tour de force resulting in a spectacular victory, a stable and friendly Iraq, and the thanks of a grateful nation. I was wrong. When President Bush was elected in 2000 along with both Houses of Congress, I thought that for sure it would herald the era of small government and fiscal responsibility. Instead I got Delay telling me that there is nothing left to cut out of the federal budget. I was really wrong. I am sure there are plenty of other examples. It's only human to err.
Some of you asked me to talk about my views and that it was cowardly not to mention them so I'd like to go over why I am still a republican, what motivates me and what leads me to hold the views that I do. Maybe in another diary I'll go over the various types of republicans that I am aware of (without caricatures) to give you the other side's insight into what could be motivating them to pull the lever for the GOP.
A couple of months ago I was challenged by one of our members to come up with a set of moral absolutes. This is what I came up with in no particular order:
1. A person should be able to keep all the fruits of his labor
2. A person who deals fairly with others should expect fair treatment in return
3. A person who deals fairly with others should expect to be unimpeded in all his actions by either government or other individuals
4. A government's purpose is to provide a safe environment for people to deal and trade fairly with each other and to enforce laws to such end
5. People should be judged by the merits of their achievements and not by any external or unmeasurable characteristics
6. Reason trumps emotion
7. People have the rational capacity through their own mind to determine what is moral (what is Right and Good) for themselves
8. Justice (I added this one just now)
I see no reason to deviate from that list for the purpose of this rather short exploration of my views. I think the overriding principles that I believe in are fairness, reason and rationality. It does not automatically follow that all my views are reasonable or rational for I am certainly not perfect and am unable to fully adhere to my stated ideals. Nor am I particularly interested in achieving this idealized libertarian/capitalist utopia. I am a pragmatist, but like many others who have ideals they strive for (Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Democracy, Liberty, various other philosophies or great leaders), I find it best to have them as helpful markers of understanding and judging the world around me.
When Newt Gingrich led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 through his famous Contract with America I was proud to be a member of the Party of Personal Responsibility, Fiscal Responsibility, American Dream, National Security, Common Sense, and Small Government. If you remember - the Constitutional Amendment "to require a balanced budget, unless sanctioned by a 3/5 vote in both Houses of Congress" failed by just 3 votes in the Senate. That was my ideal Republican Party. I agreed with practically everything in the GOP agenda at the time. What followed was a long string of ups and downs as I followed the progress of the Republican majority. I was disillusioned over Gingrich defeat in the hands of Bill Clinton but heartened by the newly resurgent Republican majority under George Bush. I was upset at the Republican fiscal surrender to higher government spending but hopeful.
9/11 came and took my mind off the fiscal situation for quite some time. I quit my job, joined the US Air Force, was excited over the destruction of Taliban and enthusiastically supported invading Iraq. I felt, no scratch that, knew that the Islamic Fundamentalist threat was the one of the worst threats to our Western Civilization that US has ever faced, especially if we did not respond with Resolve and Fortitude. Not only did we have to defeat the various terrorist threats around the world but also justice had to be rendered. As the war went on I became uneasy over the way it was fought. I am disappointed with the tactics and inflexibility portrayed though I certainly do not presume to know the answers. We've lost track of who we were fighting and why. Though I still think we were justified to go into Iraq, and that we should yet withdraw our troops, it is obvious there were plenty of disastrous miscalculations especially in the insurgency and sectarian violence departments.
I left the Air Force (after a couple of years) and went to back to work. Now I am able to more rationally weigh the situation we find ourselves in and see where I stand:
I am disappointed with the way things are going in Iraq but I support the President and his desire to fight the Islamic Totalitarian threat. It is a mindset that holds none of our values as sacred and seeks to obliterate them. I prefer fighting that mindset and its values rather than compromising and adjusting ourselves to the new world. That is one reason I am still a republican.
I am disappointed with our current state of the government size, government spending, and fiscal discipline. It is horrific. But I know that it was republicans who tried to drag Clinton's spending down, who tried to cut taxes that he raised, who tried to cut the various useless departments. It was republicans who brought the mindset of smaller government into democratic faces to force them to fight. I believe that once they failed under Gingrich, GOP has lost its will to advocate smaller government and started believing that it was a loser issue before the American public. Furthermore they decided that their own political hides were more important than standing for principle and that led to their corrupt, power hungry selves of today. It is to that memory of their lost will, and to a fervent wish of its rebirth that I am still a republican.
I believe in self-reliance, rejecting victimhood and affirmative action, in personal responsibility, and personal morality and to those once deeply felt principles evident in the new 1994 Republican majority I salute and say that I am still a republican.
I believe in science and technology, exploration of space, and medical research. On some of those issues I disagree with majority of republicans but I will fight and hope that ultimately my views will prevail in my party for the good of the nation.
I am secular but I am not afraid of religious diversity, including conservative Christians who though I strongly disagree with on certain issues, are perfectly entitled to lead their lives without being discriminated against. I do not see mentioning God in schools or celebrating Christmas on public property as threatening to the fabric of our society and I do not approve of mindsets who prefer a wanton destruction of our traditions as if the virtue of their age makes them evil. I believe in separation of church and state but am not knee jerk about it and those elements in the Democratic party make me very uncomfortable.
I am pro-gun and pro-business and while I like to have our environment clean, I do not believe that in the battle between environment and business there should be winners and losers. Honest dialogue is required and I do not see it in either party.
I hope you get a better idea of why I am a republican and why I remain a republican. I am not sure if conservative is a proper term for where I stand but it is certainly a place on the Right. I obviously cannot go over all the possible issues in the interest of time and brevity but this seems like a decent start. I hope some of you will see that your opposition is not necessarily all evil or shameless but we do hold strong and deeply held views not always automatically related to brainwashing or wealth or self-serving.