--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
This story was sent to you by: Nick Arnett>
Related to DB's stories of officers being purged...
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Officers Plot Exit Strategy.....
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This is just one example of how obstinate "conservatives" can be.
Where, exactly, is the mental ability to grasp that times have
changed? If the Old South can switch from solid Democrat to Solid
Republican, is it possible to perceive that other things have
changed, as well?
For example, that Bill Clinton's record was not just weirdly better -
by classic CONSERVATIVE values - but diametrically opposite to George
Bush's when it comes to:
deficit spending
paying off the national debt
promoting small business
investing in research and conservation to reduce dependence on foreign oil
increasing (rather than demolishing) military readiness
reducing the actual number of non defense federal employees (for the
1st time since 1912)
reducing the number of words in federal law (the 1st time ever)
increasing transparency and accountability in government, rather than
creating a tower of accelerating secrecy
winning foreign wars based upon competence, quickness and
overwhelming power, with an exit strategy and smooth transfer of
responsibility to allies
avoiding unilateralism in favor of promoting overseas friendships and
alliances that increase our influence in ways other than force
appointment of moderate constructionalists to judicial positions
based on recommendations by bipartisan panels of distinuished jurists
and not based upon political connections or radical beliefs
protecting the political independence of the US Officer Corps and
respecting their expertise in war planning
encouraging input from science at all levels while financing vigorous
research to give underpinnings to policy (e.g. Climate Change,
strategic defense, science education, energy policy)
I could go on and on...
But the significant point here is that these are all good old
fashioned conservative positions that Barry Goldwater and Eisenhower
would have had no trouble with. Now throw in moderate consensus
matters like separating of church state etc...
...and can somebody please parse this out for me? What will it take
for basic human pattern recognition to take over from reflex "my
side, right or wrong" partisonship?
Ah, but the left is just as bad. Their complete inability to ADDRESS
AND EXPLOIT these betrayals of conservatism shows that many liberals
are similarly blinkered, blinded and hobbled by archaic dichotomies
and ties to the past. They are just as addicted to sanctimony over
practicality. Culture war over negotiation and persuasion.
We modernists and moderates have nowhere to turn.
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