Saturday, January 05, 2008

Not Happy

Perhaps I've inherited a paternal quirk.
I tire easily when too much is made of one human being.
That is one reason I'm starting to roll my eyes when I hear the ubiquitous moniker "Reagan conservative."
I can't help but think the revered politician would be a little nauseous at the adulation and infallibility ascribed to him.
Another reason for the eye-rolling is because I feel this term has been bastardized.
Its chief significance is that of fiscal policy. Social policy is secondary.
To the extent that a candidate that is something of a conservative activist, socially, and something of a mishmash, economically, is branded a liberal by at least two of the big three conservative talking heads. And a candidate that is decidedly limp-wristed on the abortion issue and another that compartmentalizes morality and business is awarded the conservative label without a second thought.
Ambiguity aside, I don't really like Mike Huckabee. I think he is smart-aleck, inexperienced, and cynically patronizing. (And what is with this Ed Rollins clown, of Christine Todd Whitman fame?)
But I'm really sick and tired of this diminution of abortion and homosexuality by Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. (I like Glenn Beck, but can't help but feel his views on Romney are a little biased with a foxhole mentality, being a fellow Mormon.)
If either one of these verbal maestros had spent half the time on either one of these issues that they spent on immigration, the upstanding, exploited, mistreated Duke lacrosse players, or the upstanding, exploited, mistreated Don Imus, it would've been time well spent.
I understand the importance of national security, national identity, and civil liberties violations but they are a distant second in comparison with the moral issues that we face.
I'm seriously disillusioned with politics at the present, to the point that I would kill for a Bob Dole right now.
The way things stand now, if I have to vote for one of the top five candidates, I won't just be holding my nose, I'll be holding a bucket.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quirk?????????

Anonymous said...

These are not judgments, but mere observations. I don't know if I'm comfortable describing Don Imus and the Dukies as "upstanding." Imus used pointedly-mysoginistic hip-hop slang. I, for one, thought him to be above that. The lacrosse players were in fact victims of reverse-racism, but only after they partook in a raucous stripper-party that would have made Bacchus himself blush. There may not have been rape, but it doesn't seem a prevarication to say that there was in fact sex-in-a-bathroom. Agreed that Reagan's proud name becoming the muttered cliche for folks like Russert and Hannity is nauseating, if not incredibly aggravating. That said, a little fiscal frugality never hurt, but it may cause Bush to wince in agony. The platform of fiscal responsibility may be enough to swing my vote, should a Republican brave those steep, treacherous steps. Aborting is apalling, as is gay marriage, although to a lesser degree, as there is no murder involved in this act. But I suppose those issues remain dormant within the Supreme Court's Scales of Justice, as we don't have the dictator to mandate either. I have great respect for Glenn Beck, who came to Mormonism in recent years, through his wife. A lifesaving alternative for Beck, who was mired in the muck of alcohol and drugs after his brother's suicide. But no pundit could force me to vote for Romney. Perhaps more question marks than ever. Keep me informed.

Blake

Rae Ryan said...

Thanks Blake.
I always assume my readership is comprised only of people that know me well and therefore the comments about Imus and Duke need clarification. It was pure, 100% sarcasm. Both incidents disgusted me, mostly because I thought the resulting conservative/libertarian outrage was a poor expenditure of energy by the pundits. And although I understood the anti-pc arguments presented by the Imus defenders, I wished that they would be content to let the double-edged pc sword take out a profane, mostly liberal shock jock and let it go at that.
Glenn Beck. . .there is no pundit that I like better than Beck. He says things sometimes that are so shockingly honest, far beyond the safe boundaries of the other two conservative talkers. I believe Mormonism is based on a false belief. That established, the statement about Beck's, shall we say, "bunker mentality" was largely assumption, or, I would like to say, educated guess. I think it would be only a manifestation of human nature, or perhaps, comradeship, for Beck to defend his fellow Mormon.
Finally, the abortion and gay marriage issue. I am content, (and increasingly optimistic) to let these matters rest with our Supreme Court, but I am earnestly looking for the presidential candidate who can convince me that he is properly, prayerfully concerned about these matters, (and will spend every last drop of political capital fighting them)and not just hoping those indefatigable evangelicals will buy what he's selling.
and thank you again for the comment. maybe we'll see you at the family reunion this summer?