Political Thought Process

This is a tale that has unfolded over 30-plus years. For me, personally. Some of this information may seem familiar. I have written about it before. But it does have relevance today.

I was an avid, hard working Republican for the first 30 years of my life. After that I began to notice a shift in my thinking. And it didn’t square with the party. That’s not always easy to notice when you have focused on a lot of party details and tasks, and also worked through the DNA of political thought espoused by the party. I know I was submerged in the data and perspective is difficult to maintain under those circumstances.

Still, the disconnects emerged, first slowly, then as an avalanche!

Republicans clearly showed their conservative credentials, or at least attempted to establish them; for all to see; to become their signature feature! I was not a conservative at the time. I had been there already and had become unhappy with most of the conservative themes. Simply put: they were not realistic positions for a political party to take, and many points of reference did not add up. During campaigns such mismatched thoughts would surely create havoc.

At the time I advised against taking a conservative bent. My position was to pursue a middle of the road posture and get busy crafting clear definitions of problems coupled with sound options for solving those problems.

My ideas were met with derision. Eventually I dropped my party affiliation. Intellectually, Republicans were simply not well-equipped. Since then my conclusion has been more than adequately proven!

Republicans at one time were thought to be the party of big ideas, well educated thinking, and erudite written positions. Then, white papers were the stuff of keen political thought and support of same.

Then it stopped being so. In the 2012 presidential elections political campaign rhetoric clearly derailed in the republican switch yard. The party has not issued white papers or policy positions; nor has it proposed big ideas to manage problems that are well documented: affordable healthcare delivery, national debt, international relations, slipping educational standards from elementary through high school grades.

The largest issue in my mind? America’s global competitiveness is slipping and our nation is not searching very hard for solutions. The republicans are mute. The democrats are articulate on these matters. Republicans evidently are letting the creative challenge go unanswered. Yet they are blocking forward movement on any of these issues in Congress. So the fight goes on and the American public continues to live in frustration while the The Big Stymie continues.

Universities should not be silent on this. Economists should not be silent. Nor the media. This is too big to let be, don’t you think? Shouldn’t we be discussing the big ideas of the day and getting comfortable with the options we could employ to address those issues? Am I being too idealistic about this?

During this presidential campaign the President runs on his record. There are facts that substantiate every statement. Fact checkers scour the news and speeches as well to check on his claims. But the Republicans? They just deny the facts are true.

The trouble for them are fact checkers are looking at Romney and Ryan claims and find them lacking. The checkers are also looking at Romney and Ryan’s denial of Obama’s claims. The checkers are finding Obama correct in nearly every instance while Romney and Ryan are batting a very low record of correct answers!  Yet they continue doing this even after reports are broadcast far and wide. Why?

Because the voters who support them give them cover. And the voters who don’t care, let them get away with it. It’s easy to just toss out statements without regard to truth, to keep the air waves filled with baloney. It’s easy because it doesn’t take work to do what the Republicans are doing. It doesn’t take original thinking or problem solving.

One day political statements and factual statements will be the same because instant fact checking will be available on screen. Or maybe they should just jump to the lie detector equipment? That would save a lot of people a lot of time; and false noise.

Meanwhile we can help the process by insisting on the truth from both sides of the discussion. It is important we understand each other so our future can move ahead with certainty and honesty. Used to be the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, believed this too.

September 29, 2012