So much for doing away with partisanship! A Pew Research survey, according to The Wall Street Journal , shows both Republicans and Democrats declining in numbers and Independents gaining. Because of that partisan divide! Curious, isn't it? It bears out what I've thought all along. Obama's win was on the strength of his personality, not his policies. Of course when we voted we had no idea what those policies were. Nor am I sure he did.It also indicates the Republicans have yet to find a way into the hearts and minds of the voters. I have a Dogwalk solution for that. Get off the anti-gay rights, anti-abortion and far right religious issues and find some leadership other than right wing talk show hosts and the Governor of Alaska.
I am glad to see Independent numbers on the rise. To me it indicates people are actually thinking. Now if only we could get Congress to do the same!
It's also interesting that the survey found Independents are the youngest voting block! That is especially encouraging. Again, it means they are thinking and party ideology isn't going to sway them to one particular side. The Obama administration ought to pay attention to this trend and realize that those who put them in office will not follow blindly.
Rush Limbaugh, when I listened to him on a regular basis, used to claim moderates had no convictions. I totally disagree. Moderates are more and more those who claim to be Independents. More socially liberal and more fiscally conservative. The Obama administration can hardly be called fiscally conservative as our debt has risen to unbelievable proportions. The fiscal sacrifices have come from what were private sector businesses while the government had to borrow from questionable allies to bail them out. I question if that is even sound policy what's more conservative!
The Republicans will not attract the young vote as long as they are so stridently anti-gay. It's just not an issue with that generation. As long as they shake the religious right saber in our face, the young voters will continue to turn away. This is not rocket science for crying out loud. Why don't they get it?
Mean while we all muddle along trying to figure out just what the heck the end of all this will bring and what it will take to, one more time, turn things around. I feel like I'm riding on a pendulum that goes from one extreme to the other.
Will we ever get back to a consensus somewhere near the middle? Time will tell. The trouble is I'm not sure how much of that I have!
5 comments:
Those of us over 60 are begining to wonder if we will ever see the changes in our lifetime. We know the government gears work so very slowly for the common man/woman.
While we shake our heads as these changes keep coming, and hope it will have the good results they promise... will we get to see it?
I hope so...
"More socially liberal and more fiscally conservative": Yup, that's me. Now have to find a party that matches. This will have to be one of the two existing partys as third partys just do not work in this country.
Good post. I also find the independent numbers interesting. At one point I thought about switching but decided I was too much a Democrat to do that. I can't imagine ever voting Republican in anything other than local offices.
I also find it encouraging people are voting independent because I think it does mean they're thinking.
I won't criticize this administration on economics yet because I don't think they were expecting that firecracker to be on their plate. If the Republicans know so much now why didn't they speak up while they were in office with a majority congress for six years? I can't believe all this mess came as a shock to them. I don't know that anybody knows what to do with this economy.
In 1968 the pendulem had swung too far to the left and social unrest sent the pendulem swinging back to the right. Now it appears its swung too far to the right and is starting to swing back to the left. It doesn't swing rapidly but rather takes years. We'll see how long it takes Democrats to screw up and send it back to the right.
Linda, I respect your frame of reference. But the economic mess we find ourselves faced with today, began during the Clinton years. A Democratic president and Congress. It was then that Congress threatened Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the disasterous loans that started the ball rolling down the slippery slope to todays chaos. And the Republicans screamed bloody murder. Not much good when you are in the monority. In the 6 months of the Obama regime things have gone from bad to disasterous...for generations to come. His budget projections were just empty words and, accoridng to the facts, things are over 3 times worse than when he took office. So who else can we blame? His plan for medical care is a disaster in the making. If it weren't so frightening, his "economic stimulus" plans would be laughable in their naivete. As I read in an article by a very astute and intellingent woman, this man never so much as managed a Dairy Queen. And now he is running this country...directly into the ground! I find that the constant Democratic mantra, to divert attention and responsibility, "I didn't hear the Republicans complain about the economy during the Bush years" to be disingenuous and immature.
I am sorry to read that someone as obviously intelligent as you could never vote for a Republican (on the federal level). A lifelong Republican from belief, I have with maturity, become an independent moderate. I have on several occassions voted Democratic when I believed that was the best candidate. However not, thank goodness, Obama. CU
I am so appreciative of your blog, which I only happened to stumble upon during a web search for information about a book I am creating about this very topic - thinking independently. I find myself in agreement with everything you said in this latest post (considering I nearly always find something to disagree with in just about every opinion this must be some kind of miracle).
As to the comments about the mess and it beginning in the Clinton years, CU is correct. However, it was the congress fueled by right wing moralists chasing after the Clinton "cigar" nonsense and ignoring their job (which is to keep an eye on all things economic) that got us where we are in part. Bush and company then proceeded to make it all the more of a mess.
I would also suggest you are incorrect about your comments in relation to those who say ""I didn't hear the Republicans complain about the economy during the Bush years" to be disingenuous and immature." While such comments are surely an over-simplification of the facts, even you are suggesting that the dems (Obama) are worse and making more of a mess. So far, we cannot be sure. But at the very least - though I dislike Obama very much - they are using much of the methods that FDR and co. used to get us out of the depression (which they did by early 1937 only to see the great recession which ended near the end of 1938 - NO, the war did NOT get us out of the depression, folks).
And I would also point out that so far, things are NO WHERE near as bad as they were during the depression. Check the figures. Unemployment was a whopping 25%. Yes, the # value for the debt is greater, but if you adjust the dollars to 1933 standards, it is nothing to shout about.
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