Lamenting the Death of Intellectual Conservatism in the USA

I used to be a Republican. It's hard to believe now, but it's true. That was back in the days when the Republican Party still had a pragmatic, responsible, secular, and intellectually sophisticated moderate wing. Sadly, those days are gone. Over the past two decades, the party's ant-intellectual, jingoistic, anti-environmental, theocratic, fiscally-reckless, wing-nut fringe took over the party.

I was a Republican because I believed in a limited role for the federal government, state's rights, fiscal responsibility, free market economics, and the need for a strong defense (this was when the USSR was still around). But I also believed (and still do) in the absolute separation of church and state, respect for science, abortion rights, environmental protection, that tax cuts must be accompanied by commensurate spending cuts, and that liberals were equally patriotic countrymen and colleagues who deserved our respect and with whom we could amicably disagree. The Democrats were the other major American political party, they were NEVER the enemy. Back then, these views were not seen as incompatible with mainstream Republicanism. Sadly, there is no place in today's Republican Party for people like me. I and many others left the party. Or more accurately, the Republican Party left us!

Now, the wing-nut fringe of the Republican Party is its base. To be a Republican now, you have to disrespect science, be religious, oppose abortion rights, believe in a militaristic foreign policy, support tax cuts with no regard to their impact on the Government's fiscal solvency, disrespect the separation of church and state, not care about the environment, and think that anyone who disagrees with you is a communist! I'm appalled at the absence of intellect in the Republican party of today. It's downright scary that Republican members of Congress and state governors feel that they have to cow-tow to a loud-mouthed and intellectually bereft buffoon like Rush Limbaugh and that the party's recent presidential nominee selected the risibly unqualified Sarah Palin as his vice presidential choice in order to appeal to its unsophisticated base voters.

It really infuriates me that these superstitious nincompoops think that they are the guardians of national morality. Bill Clinton lied about his reckless and inappropriate, but otherwise harmless personal behavior and got impeached for it. George W. Bush lied in order to sell an unnecessary and unjustified war in Iraq that costs thousands of American lives and many more Iraqi lives and got reelected! Do they have their moralistic priorities just slightly out of order?

Because I believe in science, the rule of law, support diplomacy over militarism, am non-religious, support gay rights and same-sex marriage, care deeply about the environment and want to protect it, believe in balanced budgets, and believe that America is and should be part of the world, today's conservatives consider people like me to be communists (or Nazis, they can't seem to make up their minds) and view me as someone who "hates America." These people are so fanatical and their beliefs are so lacking in intellectual content that we have utterly nothing in common. It's so bizarre that believing in the Bill of Rights and in the due process of law makes you a communist of a Nazi. I wonder what sane Republicans like Abraham Lincoln, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller would say if they could see what their party has degenerated into.

I left the Republican Party years ago and am now a registered Democrat. I now consider myself a political liberal, even though my views have not changed much over the years. I still harbor some hopes that the moderate wing of the party will resurrect itself, but I'm not holding my breath.

A new day for the nation and the world

Today, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States! I live near Washington, DC and I thought about going down to the Mall to be part of the event.  But it was a regular work day for me and I have a lot to get done by Friday, so I really couldn't afford to take the day off.  And it was cold today, very cold.  I watched the inauguration live on a big screen at work with some coworkers.  I'm so happy that the nation and the world are finally rid of Bush.  I think that future historians will rank GWB as one of the worst, if not THE worst, president in US history.  Back when GWB was reelected in 2004, you could almost hear the groan from the rest of the world.  Today, you can almost hear the relief that he's finally gone.  Bush has left Obama with some huge messes to deal with.

In only eight years, Bush has turned the biggest budget surplus in history to the biggest deficit in history; he's transformed us from the most respected nation in the world to the most despised nation in the world; he's embroiled us in an unnecessary and disastrous war in Iraq; he's bungled the probably necessary war in Afghanistan; in the name of national security, he's trampled on the basic human rights and the very values that used to define what the United States stands for; he's stuck his head in the sand with regard to global warming, which might well turn out to be the biggest crisis to ever face humanity; he's knocked holes in our precious wall of separation between church & state; he's made decisions about climate and medicine based on religious dogma, not on science; and he was asleep at the wheel while the financial industry recklessly binged on price-inflated financial securities to bring about the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.  The list goes on...  Well, done George! In fairness, I will give Bush credit for two accomplishments:  there has not been a successful terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11 and he had done a lot to combat AIDS in Africa.  Except for those two successes, his presidency has been a disaster!  I wish Bush a happy and quiet retirement.

Good luck, President Obama.  You've got your work cut out for you.