Reflections on the Dark Shrub
November 9, 2006I’ve spent more time on the internet than usual, both yesterday and today, commiserating and mostly celebrating at the resignation of Rumsfield and the slap in the face that George Bush received during the Midterm elections.
There’s been a sea-change in the Democrats. To win the midterm elections, the Democrats had to field candidates with a more conservative outlook. Particularly in regards to being tougher on illegal immigration. In many ways the ‘New’ Democrats have shifted to the right. There quite literally isn’t any difference in idealogical outlook between the current Democrats and the ‘Old’ Republican party.
I always saw the Republican party as the home of ‘Small Government’, and the rights of the individual over the power of the state. A shrine for conservative American values of small enterprise and capitalism. The Bush Administration’s policies are as far from true Republican values as you can get - not just with its expansionist policies into Iraq (which diverge from the traditionally Republican isolationist policies), but also its emphasis on corrupt Big Government spending.
Unlike right-wing shills like Rush Limbaugh or Alan Jones, I don’t see this as a ‘defeat’ for the Republican party. On the contrary, the Midterm result is a great great opportunity for the Republican Party to focus on its core values that Bush and his cronies have completely ignored. This is a warning from potential Republican voters, for the party to focus on its ‘true’ core values, and not to give into the rampant idealogical corruption that has plagued this current Administration. Hopefully the Republican party will heed the call.
