Thursday, August 11, 2005

Politics: I am passionate, not political

If you read the sum of my postings on Twerpette (I know -- who has time?), you will learn that I am neither a Republican (though I used to be) nor a Democrat (though if I chose to commit, that's the only realistic choice).

Go figure: Is it my lot in life to be a Republican in Minnesota and now a Democrat in Texas?

Yet I have always stood apart from the parties. I am a social conservative who happens to be an independent progressive. I care about the issues, not the parties. I'm fine with the status quo, unless I see something wrong that needs to be addressed. I once described my political leanings as not conservative or liberal but "into the wind."

I don't care whether it's the Republicans or the Democrats who commit sins in the White House (and let's not be selective about what we call sin when the national eye is on our party's candidate). I don't want anyone committing sins in the White House! If you ask many patriotic Americans, Bush's lying for oil and sending thousands to their deaths is a greater sin than Clinton's adultery and cigarlingus. I don't want lies of any sort, from any candidate or official.

I don't care if the Democrats or the Republicans fought and won World War II or started McCarthyism or started or inherited an economic recession. I want our politicians to stop pointing fingers and to work together to clean up their messes.

Can you imagine baseball fans who were more interested in whether their team or their league won than whether a really great game of sportsmanship played out for their enjoyment? (OK, bad example.) Perhaps group loyalties are inbred to our species. Certainly they are useful (if often extraneous) to many endeavors.

All I ask is that we embrace our loyalties when they help the goal, and set them aside without prejudice when they run counter to our common patriotic goal.

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