Skip to main content

Party on, Wayne!

Read this article this morning:

 http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/27/opinions/trump-not-causing-gop-exodus-obeidallah/index.html

It's a rather fascinating insight into the dissolution of the Republican Party. Here's a couple of quotes I found particularly interesting:

Trump didn't persuade the GOP base to embrace his extreme and at times bigoted views -- he didn't have to. Those views match up well with what the rank and file of today's Republican Party already believes.
...
Win or lose, Trump will come and go -- but his views truly represent a solid majority of today's Republican Party. The bigger question for Republicans like Rep. Love, Romney, Paulson, and others is: do they try to change the GOP from within or is time for them to find a new political party?

I don't have any idea what I would do if I were a Republican, but I am sure that I would feel increasingly that the Republican Party didn't represent my views. This was a conclusion that I came to a long time ago when I decided that I just couldn't be associated with the kind of stances that I see many Republicans taking on different issues, such as economics/taxation and the way the poor should be treated. The fringe issues of immigration and national security and gun control were not really that big of a deal in my mind, but they have become more important as the years have gone by and my understanding and position has changed. Further, some dear friends have awakened me to the importance of women's rights issues, and I think that there are few issues that are more important.

So the question becomes - how loyal should one be to a particular political party? How closely does a political party reflect my views? I consider myself to be somewhat of a centrist, seeking a rational, measured approach to issues, and I find that in the Democratic Party on most issues that I'm concerned about. But that doesn't mean I can't or don't support a candidate or platform that is outside of the Democratic Party. For example, I'd be in favor of a third party, garnering say 10% of the vote, such that no other party has a clear majority and must work with the others. I think this might go a long way towards mutual understanding and getting things done. But that's not a Democratic Party idea.

In short, I find myself bemused by those who continue to blindly support a particular party at the expense of personally held values. If the Republican Party doesn't represent my views, perhaps it's time to align myself with another party. Or maybe create a new party...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord!

The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify of Christ and bring souls to Him. Who can deny this who have read the book and pondered it's sacred import? My life has been blessed and I have come to know Christ through reading this holy book. I know that Christ lives and loves us. I know He is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that through His merits alone we are saved from an eternity of misery and woe. I know that He died for us. I know He lives for us, advocating our cause before the throne of the Almighty. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the Master, the Son of God, the great Jehovah. Blessed and praised be His Holy Name forever and ever! To Him be all glory, honor, and majesty to an eternal day! It is the atonement of Christ - His suffering and subsequent victory - that makes all of this possible. His grace is sufficient for all after all we can do. And make no mistake - we must do all in our power. But through Him and by Him we can and will overcome. I love H
2 comments
Read more

2020 - A retrospective

 There will no doubt be many retrospectives written about the year that was 2020. It was a tough year for most, a good year for many, and generally speaking a very interesting year. Which reminds me of the the old curse - may you live in interesting times. Because, you see - interesting does not always mean good. It does not mean better. It does not mean happy. It just means interesting. So to highlight just how interesting things were, I offer the following post about things that went on. Or didn’t went on. It’s not intended to be chronological, necessarily, or even accurate. It’s just some of my observations.... Let’s start with the pandemic. Pandemic is a word that was previously the realm of science fiction and/or horror writers (The Stand comes to mind). Late 2019 a disease was identified in Wuhan, China, which is a place I’d never heard of before. Apparently coming from some kind of exotic meat market, this strain of Coronavirus was something that the world hadn’t seen before. Ma
Post a Comment
Read more

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t
Post a Comment
Read more