Couple of things.
First, you say we have no excuses. However, I want to point out that for the last couple elections we HAD NO CHOICES. I am willing to wax idealist as easily as the next guy, but I am also pragmatic.
I DID vote for Bush-- twice actually. (or maybe none-- I was in FL when I voted for him.) I want to point out that in each of those elections the margins were VERY narrow and Bush barely squeeked in.
Had more persons abandoned the traditional 2 party system and opted for an independent runner, there is a far greater chance in my opinion that the Republicans would have suffered more than the Democrats. In that case, we would have had Gore the first time around and Kerry the next.
Bush isn't my favorite President by any stretch of the imagination, and he is surely not a true conservative in his fiscal or governmental policies. However, he is a better friend to us than either Gore or Kerry would have been.
In each election, people probably voted AGAINST Gore and/or Kerry more than they voted FOR Bush. I know I did.
Second.
The Patriot Act is an abomination. Regardless of the intentions of the act, it has been misused. No law will ever be held to the spirit of that law-- it will always be held to the LETTER of the law. Therefore, it, like other intrusive laws has been misused. RICO is as much an abused and unconstitutional law as the patriot act, and yet we continue to tolerate it.
The country went nuts after 9/11. In a vain attempt for security, we allowed lawmakers to pass a law that infringed on our freedoms. Aren't ALL laws seeking security invasions of freedoms in some way?
I am probably radical when I say that I would prefer to live in a less secure world than one that restricts our freedoms. If we are unwilling to accept the consequences of living in a free state, we are unworthy of the legacy left to us by our founding fathers. Freedom can be painful at times-- Lack of Freedom WILL be suffocating ALL the time.
I, like many, would face an ethical delimma had I known Bush would have sought legislation like the Patriot Act prior to his election. However, I STILL believe that Kerry would have sought even more draconian measures against our freedoms. He would have simply spun it differently.
We voted for what we thought was the best of the two. As sad as it is to say this, we probably DID.
I do see a serious threat to the Republican pary in the future. Currently, our leadership has not been aligned with what I believe is the core of the party. It has proven unable to alter its platforms to reflect the values of those who support it even while alienating those that have been loyal and strong supporters for decades.
Political parties are nothing more than products for sell. They sit down and package a set of values and positions. They HOPE that the mix they include in their package are of the type that will garner enough votes to win. Both of the major parties participate in this activity. As the Republicans play around with their mix, they will gain and lose supporters--but the will lose at a slower rate than they will gain. People are often reluctant to abandon a party they have supported for years-- its kind of like abandoning your favorite sports team or college. Oh, they WILL abandon a party that does not represent them, but it will take time for them to face the reality that the party has abandoned them.
In the case of the Republicans, they are playing with the mix. At the moment, the effects haven't fully materialized. However, as time passes, many alientated supporters WILL finally leave. More than not, they will pass to a third party as opposed to moving to the Democrates.
This is how parties die.
In my opinion, the real winner of the Republican realignments will be the Liberatarians. I speak to SO many people that always tell me "I vote Republican, but my beliefs are more Libertarian." I know this to be true-- I am one of those people.
The Libertarians are really an interesting policial party. They are a party whose ideological membership is largely inside of the republican party. The Libertarians seem to be unable to make any strong gains politically, and yet they could actually be a major player in the political arena if all the shared thier views ACTUALLY VOTED FOR THEM.
In my belief that the republicans benefit more from Liberatarian-minded persons voting outside that party, I believe that the republicans would be most harmed by losing Liberatarian-minded voters. This would surely cost them elections across the US.
That would be all it takes to kill that party. They would go the way of the Wigs. Mind you, I am not hoping for, or advocating the "killing" of the Republican party. I am merely pointing out that they probably do not realize just how critical the near future is for them. Besides, if they did find themselves gutted of Liberatarian-minded voters, they would have only themselves to blame.
And I say all this as a registered Republican.
John
