Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Re: Issue 4

I don't read blogs (well, not until recently), so my comment is based upon what I hear on the radio. Rush, Laura Ingram, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, etc. almost always use the term "liberal", not Democrat. Conversely, most of the hosts on Air America use the term "conservative" instead of Republican. The reason(s), well, I have two:

1) From the time I became politically aware (18,19?) until several years ago, it was always Democrat/Republican and not liberal/conservative because there was no need to label - everyone knew which was which. But, when the hate from both sides began (Rush?), the labels were/are used as a term of spite, of hatred, of disdain.

2) The other, more conspiritorial reason, is to make a greater distinction between the 2 parties (the gap between liberal - conservative is a much wider one than that between Democrat - Republican). Honestly, is there really such a big difference in the garbage we send to DC? The rhetoric certainly sounds different, but the results we get aren't. I don't pay attention to what they say, I try to pay attention to what they do, or don't do and how they vote. Hillary, the darling (for reasons so totally unknown to me) of the Democrats, talks one way, but seems to vote an entirely different way.

I think that there are small factions in each party that fit the extremes - but the vast majority of the public and the vast majority of the elected fools we send to DC are much closer to each other than they want us to think.

Conservative, liberal, conservative Democrat, liberal Repulican, Democrat, Republican - they are all the same.

1 comment:

Scooter said...

Have to say that I agree for the most part, especially for the last five years on the part of the Republicans... expanding federal domestic gov't programs and spending like drunken sailors, primarily to garner votes.

Libertarians are fond of saying, "Republicans and Democrats, not a dime's worth of difference." Many of those Libertarians have stifled their criticism of the Republican right during the "War on Terror," but that is starting to change and not a momet too soon.