Will the Center Remain Unshifted
My greatest fear, and this has more to do with me as an American Catholic…my fear is that if there is an Obama landslide the Democrats will take this to mean that the center has shifted…not just with respect to the war in Iraq and the present administration’s misuse and maybe even abuse of fear and the war on terror…
Hmmm, my fear has made it impossible for me to write a complete sentence.
There. Ahhh….
If the Democrats see the 06 Midterms and this election year as an absolute shift in the American political landscape they will have thrown away all they learned in winning in 06 and drive themselves further from Americans who might be inclined to hear what they have to offer. Remember in 2006 the party opened itself up to candidates like Sen. Casey in PA. I don’t need to say what it is about a Donkey like Casey (and his father) that I admire…but people that know my personal beliefs can probably guess.
I don’t have a “life” litmus test when it comes to voting for national candidates, but I tend to admire Dems who bucked the system in the 90’s and in the Oughts to say ‘Damn it we need to open the tent and we ain’t talkin’ abortion tents….we mean open the tent of our party to those who have different views on the so-called cultural issues’
I think the Karl Roves of the world have successfully claimed a generation of potential voters who will spend the rest of their lives believing that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate guarantees four years of baby eating with intermittent sodomy. To some extent (minus Rove’s “brand our enemies as gay rights supporters strategy”) the D’s have opened themselves up to this East Coast liberal-elitist tag because for the last 15 years that’s who ran the Donkey Show and the Republicans have allowed diverse opinions on abortion, embryonic stem cell research and allowed for both sides to be bandied about in the party…even though their standard bearer does not reflect this openness.
I am not a liberal or conservative in the sense that I believe either movement will save me, my way of life, or my country. If that’s your bag, fine. I am not suggesting some sort of moral superiority…especially in this blog where I am most comfortable being a nasty and mildly amusing fucknugget.
I feel humor has a better chance of saving me than ideologues and the agendas they espouse on either side. For me, as someone who wants to be Christ like the difference between Republicans and Democrats (especially on the so-called social issues) is like the difference between the Pharisees and the Romans. The Elephants who ride the social issues hard and try to draw out the base to get elected make themselves the messengers of God’s law and place themselves as guardians of the fence laws (no immigration pun intended) to keep the heathens out are like those damned Pharisees who try to trap God’s good shepherd and true servant (I am not saying Sen. O is either of these things). The Pharisees do not care about service to the Lord or his people. They care about appearance of piety and preserving a way of life for the sake of preserving it.
If you vote for Republican presidential and national candidates because you think they will keep taxes low and allow a certain understanding of the America work and property ethic to dominate that is honest and fine. I find the use and abuse and confusion of Christian purposes with strictly political ones to be most offensive among certain Republican hopefuls. By the way, one of the things I admired about McCain in the primaries is how he put those motherfuckers in the Elephant Camp in their place (the first shall be last eh...?) and pushed his way through to the nomination.
I guess I find most Democrats less offensive to my religious sensibilities than certain Republicans who wanna stick a cross with a tiny American flag on it in my face. The Democrats…especially when they come off as slick East-coast liberals or (worse to some) European-style libertines (sounds like dirty sex)…the Democrats are the Romans. They espouse certain views because they are “cosmopolitan” and they opine this is how all civilized peoples should behave. There is a different sort of practical moral calculation and no one should take beliefs seriously enough to fuck up the way we run an empire. One might think the worst case scenario is when Democrats who are like the Romans try, for practical purposes, to merge their rhetoric with the language of faith. Anyone remember the Clinton's New Covenant? But this ain't so bad because nobody can or should take it all that seriously when prominent Democrats use language like this...especially in a video produced by the creators of Designing Women.
I have said from very early on that I wanted both of these Senators to be the nominees. Of the two, Senator Obama seems to fit nicely into what I think makes for a healthy combination of ambition and offering a view of politics that promotes a more tangible sort of social goodness (as opposed to real America vs. fake, real values vs. redistributing the wealth). Christians acquainted with the history of the early church understood "wealth distribuion" to be standard practice for those folks not an evil plot to undermine all that is decent in society. I am not saying the business of govt ought to be wealth distribution....but this view has more directly in common with Christianity and the Bible than other issues that lead the Jesus wing of social conservatives into the voting pods.
I am also prepared to admit that the Junior Senator from Illinois may seem to be something he is not and we might not find that out until it is too late....and that his true victory has more to do with PR and money than leadership. But what is worse for the country is the Democrats will mistake the last two elections for a mandate in America and go back to living in Cupcake Castle on Gumdrop Lane and alienate another group of supporters in the process.
I hope, if Obama wins, either he will have the good sense to understand that he must appear to have moved to the center as much as possible or that financial and other crisis will force him and the Congress to focus on Americans material needs and leave behind the less palatable, less mainstream social agendas some in the Democratic part hold up to the exclusion of other opinions.
Aw screw it. Vote for me and I promise that my administration will flood the news cycle with more dick jokes than the Jamba Juice next to Zanies.
Hmmm, my fear has made it impossible for me to write a complete sentence.
There. Ahhh….
If the Democrats see the 06 Midterms and this election year as an absolute shift in the American political landscape they will have thrown away all they learned in winning in 06 and drive themselves further from Americans who might be inclined to hear what they have to offer. Remember in 2006 the party opened itself up to candidates like Sen. Casey in PA. I don’t need to say what it is about a Donkey like Casey (and his father) that I admire…but people that know my personal beliefs can probably guess.
I don’t have a “life” litmus test when it comes to voting for national candidates, but I tend to admire Dems who bucked the system in the 90’s and in the Oughts to say ‘Damn it we need to open the tent and we ain’t talkin’ abortion tents….we mean open the tent of our party to those who have different views on the so-called cultural issues’
I think the Karl Roves of the world have successfully claimed a generation of potential voters who will spend the rest of their lives believing that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate guarantees four years of baby eating with intermittent sodomy. To some extent (minus Rove’s “brand our enemies as gay rights supporters strategy”) the D’s have opened themselves up to this East Coast liberal-elitist tag because for the last 15 years that’s who ran the Donkey Show and the Republicans have allowed diverse opinions on abortion, embryonic stem cell research and allowed for both sides to be bandied about in the party…even though their standard bearer does not reflect this openness.
I am not a liberal or conservative in the sense that I believe either movement will save me, my way of life, or my country. If that’s your bag, fine. I am not suggesting some sort of moral superiority…especially in this blog where I am most comfortable being a nasty and mildly amusing fucknugget.
I feel humor has a better chance of saving me than ideologues and the agendas they espouse on either side. For me, as someone who wants to be Christ like the difference between Republicans and Democrats (especially on the so-called social issues) is like the difference between the Pharisees and the Romans. The Elephants who ride the social issues hard and try to draw out the base to get elected make themselves the messengers of God’s law and place themselves as guardians of the fence laws (no immigration pun intended) to keep the heathens out are like those damned Pharisees who try to trap God’s good shepherd and true servant (I am not saying Sen. O is either of these things). The Pharisees do not care about service to the Lord or his people. They care about appearance of piety and preserving a way of life for the sake of preserving it.
If you vote for Republican presidential and national candidates because you think they will keep taxes low and allow a certain understanding of the America work and property ethic to dominate that is honest and fine. I find the use and abuse and confusion of Christian purposes with strictly political ones to be most offensive among certain Republican hopefuls. By the way, one of the things I admired about McCain in the primaries is how he put those motherfuckers in the Elephant Camp in their place (the first shall be last eh...?) and pushed his way through to the nomination.
I guess I find most Democrats less offensive to my religious sensibilities than certain Republicans who wanna stick a cross with a tiny American flag on it in my face. The Democrats…especially when they come off as slick East-coast liberals or (worse to some) European-style libertines (sounds like dirty sex)…the Democrats are the Romans. They espouse certain views because they are “cosmopolitan” and they opine this is how all civilized peoples should behave. There is a different sort of practical moral calculation and no one should take beliefs seriously enough to fuck up the way we run an empire. One might think the worst case scenario is when Democrats who are like the Romans try, for practical purposes, to merge their rhetoric with the language of faith. Anyone remember the Clinton's New Covenant? But this ain't so bad because nobody can or should take it all that seriously when prominent Democrats use language like this...especially in a video produced by the creators of Designing Women.
I have said from very early on that I wanted both of these Senators to be the nominees. Of the two, Senator Obama seems to fit nicely into what I think makes for a healthy combination of ambition and offering a view of politics that promotes a more tangible sort of social goodness (as opposed to real America vs. fake, real values vs. redistributing the wealth). Christians acquainted with the history of the early church understood "wealth distribuion" to be standard practice for those folks not an evil plot to undermine all that is decent in society. I am not saying the business of govt ought to be wealth distribution....but this view has more directly in common with Christianity and the Bible than other issues that lead the Jesus wing of social conservatives into the voting pods.
I am also prepared to admit that the Junior Senator from Illinois may seem to be something he is not and we might not find that out until it is too late....and that his true victory has more to do with PR and money than leadership. But what is worse for the country is the Democrats will mistake the last two elections for a mandate in America and go back to living in Cupcake Castle on Gumdrop Lane and alienate another group of supporters in the process.
I hope, if Obama wins, either he will have the good sense to understand that he must appear to have moved to the center as much as possible or that financial and other crisis will force him and the Congress to focus on Americans material needs and leave behind the less palatable, less mainstream social agendas some in the Democratic part hold up to the exclusion of other opinions.
Aw screw it. Vote for me and I promise that my administration will flood the news cycle with more dick jokes than the Jamba Juice next to Zanies.
posted by edP | 10:27 PM
6 Comments:
Based on what I've been reading and hearing, there is huge concern that FOCA will effectively put Catholic doctors and hospitals out of business. Also, there is fear that the Fairness Doctrine will hurt stations like Relevant Radio and that Hate Speech laws will silence preists (like what is happening already in Canada). Fr. Tim at St. Joes better watch it. He gave a very passionate talk at the Rosary and Benediction yesterday afternoon about the intrinsic evils supported by certain politicans that Catholics can never endorse. I was amazed at the turnout. I was expecting maybe 25-50 Pro-Life diehards to show up, but the entire middle section of the church was filled. They know what is at stake tomorrow. I guess we will find out soon enough.
A guy at work articulated what I have been trying to wrap my brain around for years, “Republicans are going to borrow and spend. Democrats are going to tax and spend. They both fucking spend.”
I could be the asshole who stands in the booth for 2 hours tomorrow not able to pull the trigger on either candidate. Most people who know me think I am insane, more so right now with this election. If some one says they are voting for McCain I argue Obama, and do it with passion. If they say they are voting for Obama I do the same for McCain.
I am scared to death of the Democrats getting control of the White House, Senate and Congress. That could be one of those scenarios where how could they really make it worse in four years. They could push policy like shit through a goose and fuck the repercussions. Then blame the republicans if it starts to go south. By that time they will be in office trying to fix it. Reaping the fruits of the there fucked up labor and the American people to stupid to remember anything longer than 2 years. The housing marked started with Clinton, he changed the rules on that. To make is money and hook up the executives up at Fanny and Freddie, there Osama’s boys also. Then Bush made it worse by not fucking fixing it. Now we have 16 years of stinky douche to clean up.
Bush uncommoditizes, which deregulates it for the most part. Now Oil companies control the price of oil and gas with no one to say boo. On top of that they only upgrade facilities with government money. ON top of that they are recording the largest company profits in the history of man. ON TOP OF THAT they are giving there executives BILLIONS in bonuses year to year. By the time any one try’s to fix it the companies will be cash poor, the executives will retire with golden parachutes, to take the last bit of money in the coffers, and the average American will have to bail them out. The next big fuck you to the American people.
I like that Obama is kind of a fresh start to a way of doing things. He also seems to be real bright and that can go along way. His tax on the capital gains and inherent tax of 47% will be a disaster for the entrepreneur. Traditionally this is how America grows the pie and adds the sweet new jobs. If people don’t think real hard on how the new regulations will look and affect business it will just make the big companies bigger and stagnate the economy further. Fuck growing the pie just buy gold it is safe. That is no good for anybody. I have read multiple articles on real smart people how put a lot of there time and money into investing in the start up. They are Obama supporters and say that they hope Obama will get some one on his team that can explain this to him.
My only hit against Obama is this and hope is not a strategy. I don’t really feel like McCain has run a good campaign and questions his pick of Palin. Don’t get me wrong I like her spunk and she could be an excellent states person in the near future. She got thrown in to the swamp a littler early to be effective, even if she is one hot MILF that at least makes politics easy on the eyes but a little hard on the ears.
I might be leaning to Obama at this point just to see what happens. My only problem with that is, I said last election “ It can’t get any worse” and voted for Bush. That went swimmingly.
I still can’t decide….
I think it's interesting that there's concern that Obama will be focused on FOCA and silencing priests, and yet he has come under fire for not condemning his own priest enough.
For the record, I also find it pretty hypocritical that there's no ambiguity for conservatives on the issue of abortion (based on the concept of murder) but war (mass murder) seems to get a pass in the name of national security.
As for the "redistribution of wealth" stuff, we already have taxes. That is redistribution of wealth. The government presides over it. Lately, the corrupt, already wealthy bank managers and Iraqis have been the recipients of the redistribution. It would be hard for Obama and the Dems (or McCain, for that matter) to pull off something more egregious.
Sorry - "his own pastor"
I agree with everything except the intermittent sodomy.
Me too...more of a constant sodomy kind of guy myself
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