State of Independence

Michael Totten points to this post with the comment: "Why I am not now, and do not plan to become, a Republican." Fair enough, and I agree. The social radicalism of the Republicans is what turned me completely off to the Republican Party.

Fair's fair, and here are some reasons I cannot be a Democrat. I was going to quote the 2000 Texas Democrat Party platform, but frankly, after I read it, it would have been a waste of time. Take this, for example:

Raise teacher pay and provide a quality state paid health insurance program for every educational employee;

Or this:

Strongly encourage the recruitment of teachers who reflect the state’s diversity, because Texas is a multi-ethnic state and education is enriched through diversity;

Or this:

Keeping handguns and other weapons away from children.

It's just so much effort to take these nice-sounding platitudes, and tie them back to the actual policies being espoused: supporting teachers' unions' demands no matter how unreasonable; affirmative action programs in State hiring; banning of handgun ownership (and certainly the repeal of the concealed carry laws).

You see, the Republican social policy idiots are frank in their idiocy, while the Democrat policy idiots are deceptive. The Democrats (and I speak of the Party, not necessarily individuals who associate with the Party) say nice things, but propose disastrous policies to carry them out. (Affirmative action, banning handguns, and bending over for the teachers' unions are just a part of that. Much more devastating is the general trend towards statism and away from personal responsibility.) It's far easier to link to the product of their policies, rather than go through the considerable effort necessary to take the nice platitudes of the platform and show their consequences in actual policy debate. OK, maybe that's not fair, really, but it is satisfying.

In any case, the Libertarians, like the Republicans, are easy to call out, because they are honest. The policies they espouse which are stupid are spelled right out.

So, really, I'll just be independent of any political party, thanks.

Posted by Jeff at September 5, 2003 06:20 PM | Link Cosmos