I probably said a few things last night I shouldn't have said. Oh well, it's a message board, so what?
I guess in the end what I'm trying to say is that politics is a game of give and take, and that the very essense of politics makes politicians have to compromise for an end game objective. In our system, any system that's not a dictatorship in fact, you're going to have opposing viewpoints on many important issues. If you're unyielding and demand your way 100% of the time you accomplish nothings. Just gridlock. that in fact is what's happening with our current POTUS. '
So while Romney, GWB, Reagan, you name it, have all been guilty of playing the game, it's the way it is. and it's not nearly as bad as people believe. Things do get done, and the majority of the country prospers. Until the housing market collapsed things weren't going that badly were they? Yeah yeah yeah, I know house of cards, but I put Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac mostly on liberal policy makers. I think things could be going pretty well right now if banks hadn't been forced into stupid loans to people who had no chance to ever pay them back.
Anyway long story short I don't believe in Utopia. I don't think we can go back in time and abolish all taxes. I don't think we can ignore the threat of terrorism, both domestically and globally. And I don't think you can effectivley counter terrorism without some intrusion on your individual rights on occasion.
I know that will bring down the house, but sorry, you're being naive if you think that law enforcement hasn't always crossed the line when the threat's been great enough and trampled some rights. It's a fine line, and honestly who among us here have been harrased by the government?
Oh well I think it's just common sense that you can't stop bad people without occasionally infringing on innocents.
Anyway perfection is unobtainable in this world. You have to set reasonable political goals, goals that can be made to appeal to a consensus. Goals that no one's completely happy with but that everyone can comfortably live with when they sit back and think it through.
I don't think the far left or the far right will ever govern enough to the middle to move this country foward. Therefore I look at what you consider wishy washy Republicans and see them as someone who can nudge us in the right direction an inch at a time. Slow change can be accomplished, but you overstep your bounds, i.e taking away all welfare, food stamps, medicare etc... overnight, you'll be handed your ass and will accomplish nothing.
Sorry for the rambling post. I can't explain all my feelings, and I don't claim to be the most politically savvy guy around. But I'm not an idiot. And while I can't tell you what the solutuions all are, I do believe I have a general sense of what can and can't be done when you try to govern 350 million people with different goals, dreams, assets, and liabilities. It's got to be a government for the people and by the people, not just the ones that think like you.