[...] There you will find 73772 more Infos: intelligentdiscontent.com/2006/05/30/495/ [...]…

To your points….I’m not sure I agree that we’ve sent the definition off into the corners. The question I would have is what as the left done to combat this issue? I honestly hadn’t considered we had been responsible for it. I would maybe say we’ve drawn the lines between right and left more effectively than previous but I’m not altogether in agreement about the marginalization of anti-war, feminist or environmentalist groups. I’d say Greenpeace and others (notably several groups in Colorado and other states) have done that for themnselves through what I would consider extreme actions.

As for anti-war, I’m starting to weave towards their position slowly but the protests and actions are what is keeping me from heading down such a road or considering it. Reading stories of the protests in which they aim to block shipments by tearing through a fence and sitting on the road and refusing to move…that’s the kind of stuff I could never sign on with. Maybe I’m a cowardly rightie but I prefer to go about it differently.

The repeated calls to bring the troops home now are also grating on my nerves. My same age cousin was sent there with the Montana State National Guard and served his time. He came home to Great Falls with some amazing stories. Most of all his opinion was we needed to stay to keep things in order.

The anti-war establishment has in my rightie mind helped marginalize itself with the outlandish ideas on solving the problems to simply bring the troops home and offering no such plan to help the Iraqi people (and Afghan as well) should we walk out. At least that’s how I see it. Call in the UN? They can’t even handle the Darfur, Timor and other worldly crisis. Whose gonna do it? Nobodies stood up to shoulder the load as far as I can tell. At least nobody effective.

As for feminists, they’ve not been as active in my world view. That might be because it’s limited at times (mostly due to me being outside the country right now) but I’ve not seen them making the headlines they used to make.

Again, all of these perspectives come from a conservative viewpoint and it’s how I see the three things you mentioned. I think this country has a long way to go before we can all get around a campfire and sing kum-ba-ya but maybe around the next time the election comes we all will have a chance to mend some fences.

I honestly hope those men and women in DC and the states see the division and come to a place of compromise politically and also personally.

It’s a dream at least.

P.S…I know some of you boys are in Montana. Anyone recognize the last name of Dahl or DeLay and the city of Scobey or Opheim? Random Montana question.

I would pull out one point from the discussion that I think I would disagree with:

As for your statement we’ve got extremist Republicans I’ll disagree with you there. President Bush isn’t an extremist.

I think I might have agreed with that sentiment before the doctrine of preventative war, before the unparalleled surveillance of Americans, before his assertion of almost unlimited executive authority…after those, he moves closer to an extremist. The thing is, that in the past 10 years, the conservative movement has done a great job of moving the ball. What was once moderate is now liberal, what was once far right is moderate conservative.

The are winning (or have won) the definition debate…marginalizing those who are anti-war, femininst, or environmentalist, to name a few. It’s been a huge shift.

As far as aboriton goes, I think finally both sides are realizing that everybody wants the same thing: fewer abortions.

Isn’t that a starting point for compromise? The question is, how do we get there? By outlawing it and creating intrusive regulations over women? That kind of policy has been a disaster in places like Mexico and El Salvador. At least by our standards of individual liberties.

I recently wrote on a Democratic plan to reduce abortion (another post here). I think giving women easy access to contraceptives, healthcare, and the “morning-after” pill, combined with funding for social programs that make single-parenting workable, and heavy restrictions on second and third trimester abortions, we’d dramatically reduce the number of abortions, improve the health of poor and working-class women, and make families stronger without putting anyone in jail or pushing anyone to get “back-alley” abortions.

Not everything has to be done through criminalization. How’s that War on Drugs going?

In regards to the whole blogs business, I agree. There are some places out there in the blogsphere that really need an editor or some kind of serious thought process overhaul. Like you said, we are the penny press. We’re the guys that stand off the side and earn the nickname “peanut gallery” and really go to town.

But I also have this thing bouncing around in the back of this old mind of mine. There are thousands (more than that probably) of blogs out there with thoughts, ideas, emotions and reactions that fall into place all over the political spectrum. This people represent the voting public.

And sometimes even more troubling, they get a following. They preach these things to the masses and at times the masses follow madly with their vitriolic baggage they all carry. Of course we’re incendiary. We’re tired of Washington (both sides of the fence) ignoring us and not allowing us a voice. But an unnerving string in the mix is the fact that people will follow these revolutions. And they will become very angry. And they’ll run protests. And they’ll break windows. And they’ll further divide this crazy nation further.

As for your statement we’ve got extremist Republicans I’ll disagree with you there. President Bush isn’t an extremist. He may have gone to war and found us in the middle of a sand trap two times over but he hasn’t fulfilled the standards of a right wing extremist. When I think of a right wing extremist I imagine Minute Men, Abortion Clinic Bombers etc. Our president may be controversial and contributing to the division of the country, but he is far from being an extremist. Agree to disagree is where we’ll probably find ourselves on this one.

National debt has always been a problem. It’s not going away and it’s going to be with us for a very long time. Sounds defeatist, sure. But I know we’ve been cutting taxes. I know our economy has been working to rebound. I’m willing to live with a national debt for the moment. I have faith that when we elect a Democrat next time that’ll be addressed because nobody seems to care about it right now.

As for health care costs…you’re probably right. And yet, these are all things that one man in the White House cannot solve. It involves two houses, fifty states and a whole lotta citizens, business men and health care industry people. There are no longer any answers to these things. Our security is weak? Yep. But it’s better than it was before when it was terrible. I know it sounds like I’m rebutting with simple statements (and I am) but I’m trying to keep a slightly optimistic look on this whole ugly thing we call the current situation.

Emergency response agencies have been gutted? Sure. I fully point my finger at the idiot who put the director of FEMA where he was when in reality he had no experience whatsoever in what he was doing. We seem to have a guy whose been there, done that and got the t-shirt so he can do the job.

As for compromise I look to your Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and other Democrat figure heads. I’ve never liked Nancy and the others because they all seem so angry all the time and complaining and pointing out my party and the error of our ways without saying what we should do about it. Maybe I’m just out of touch, but I don’t feel as if either side really has control of what needs to be done in the future with all this madness we have.

Immigration is something none of us have an answer for right now. Many on the conservative web sites’ have their ideas down and are hoping our Conservative Counterparts in Washington will pick up on it. But we know how that will go.

And then you went and talked about abortion which is a flashpoint so I have to take some more valium.

I think there is a chance the two sides we seem to exist on can come together on things.

We’ll see.

And yes, you have a point…:)