One of the upsides to having an hour and a quarter round-trip commute is I listen to a lot of podcats. When I first got my iPod, I first loaded it up with lots of music-related podcasts, drum and bass sets, punk shows, etc…. But nowadays I end up listening to a lot more political and investing shows. Wow I’m all grown up! One show I really enjoy is an audio version of NBC’s sunday morning political talk show Meet The Press. For the past month or so continuing on to the election, they hold debates between the Dem and Rep senatorial candidates in key states. It’s amazing how things have changed from even as recently as last year. Instead of Republicans taking the offensive and attacking Democrats for not supporting the president and the war on terrorism, instead, Republicans try and separate themselves from the President, while it’s the Democratic candidate who always comes out the clear and sensible candidate. The tables have really turned. Each debate takes on the same tone…
The Republican attacks the Democrat for supporting a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq. The Democrat says that they haven’t endorsed a timetable, a change in course must be made to right what’s been wronged. The mediator asks the Republican whether or not, knowing that Saddam had never had any WMD. The Republican dodges the question a few times, and instead attacks the Democrat for not supporting our troops by voting against a bill for body armor. The Democrat admits it, adding in that the funding for body armor, 300 million, was part of an 87 BILLION DOLLAR bill, with a lot of the money going to Halliburton. That amounts to a whopping 1/3 of 1 percent of the bill, which is what the Republicans threw in as protection against anyone disagreeing with the bill, ignoring the fact that Bush/Rumsfeld sent the troops into Iraq with deficient armor in the first place. The Republican then argues that the war in Iraq is going REALLY REALLY WELL, despite both the mediator and the Democrat citing dozens of bi-partisan sources saying otherwise. Then the mediator questions the Republicans’ claimed independence from Bush and at the same time lists their voting record, which is usually something in the neighborhood of 95% agreeing with Bush, along with some articles and speech excerpts from a year back. The Republican dodges it. Then, finally 2/3 of the way through the debate, they go on to state-specific politics, in which case whenever the Republican is being questioned, it always goes back to the War on Terror.
Seriously, listen to any of the recent ones, it is exactly that!
A year ago, you could picture the Republicans as an unstoppable force with tremendous power. All they had to do was cite the war on terror or call their opponents liberals, and nothing else they would say or do would matter, because they would win. Now, after a recession, intelligence failures, Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, Foley, Enron, Halliburton… Time magazine came out with an article citing that the Republicans have become a dying kingdom, attempting to maintain power for the pure sake of having power. We’re entering a new Democratic era, where I believe real change will happen.
What is my actual political party ideals? I believe in extensive freedom, free markets, legalization of many victimless crimes, privatization of Social Security, and others. Choosing a party is not as important as figuring out for yourself what you believe in. If I had to choose one party that most closely represents what you believe in, I’d have to say Libertarian. However, as long as Republicans remain a morally corrupt, religious-driven, and power-hungry threat to America, I will always vote Democratic (despite maybe erring on the side of Republican core values).
In case you care, I’ll post a list of all the podcasts I subscribe to at a later point.
